"You're Such a Loser!"

Recently, I had the opportunity to watch my seven year old granddaughter’s softball team play a game. As I watched, two things made me think. The first was that those little girls played much better softball than I had imagined they could. Second, I was surprised that those sweet little girls had already learned how to talk trash at their opponents. They sang songs and cheers as if they were playing for a national championship instead of a local softball game between girls who would be back in the same classrooms the next day.

During the final inning of the game, I watched as one of the opposing team’s batters struck out. And as that little girl walked with tears in her eyes, broken-hearted towards her dugout, I looked over to see the girls on my granddaughter’s team holding their hands up to their heads making an letter “L” with their fingers, the universal sign for loser as they shouted, “You’re such a loser!” as loudly as they could.

That night, as I lay in bed thinking, I thought about that little girl's face as she heard those words being shouted at her. Suddenly, within my heart, I heard the voice of G-D speak those same words towards me: “You’re such a loser.”

I was startled as those words echoed within my thoughts. Not because I was offended or hurt, but because instead of those words being spoken as a taunt or a jeer, they were spoken with love and kindness. I had never heard those words used to encourage before. Yet, as I heard those words, I realized that I truly was “a loser.” As a matter of fact, I may be the biggest loser of all time.

By way of explanation, let me tell you that as I lay in my bed preparing to go to sleep, I was reading the book of Leviticus and had just read chapter 16, the portion of the Torah that deals with the Yom Kippur sacrifice. As I read the words describing what was to take place on that one day a year when the High Priest would enter the Holy of Holies to complete the substitutionary sacrifice that covered the sins of the Children of Israel, I sat in bed thinking about just how beautiful it was that G-D had provided a means for Israel to have their sins atoned for, or covered by the blood.

However, it wasn’t until the coming of Messiah Yeshua that our sins were not just covered, but removed completely. As we read in Hebrews 7:

Hebrew 7:26 For such a Kohen Gadol was fitting for us: holy, guiltless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. 27 He has no need to offer up sacrifices day by day like those other kohanim g’dolim—first for their own sins and then for the sins of the people. For when He offered up Himself, He did this once for all.

And Hebrews 10:

Hebrews 10:10 By His will we have been made holy through the offering of the body of Messiah Yeshua once for all. 11Indeed, every kohen stands day by day serving and offering the same sacrifices again and again, which can never take away sins. 12 But on the other hand, when this One offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God— 13 waiting from then on, until His enemies are made a footstool for His feet. 14 For by one offering He has perfected forever those being made holy.

So, as I sat there in my bed reading the Torah and thinking about being a loser, I once again was reminded that because I placed my faith and trust in Yeshua, I truly was “such a loser.” Yeshua didn’t just cover my sins from year to year; He removed my sins from me as far as the east is from the west (Psalms 103:12).

The truth is that because of what Yeshua did for me, I lost all of my sins. That day, I became a loser.

So, that night as I heard those words “You are such a loser” spoken in my heart, once again I found myself relating to the words Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 1:

1 Timothy 1:12 I thank Messiah Yeshua our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, appointing me to service— 13 even though I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a violent man. Yet I was shown mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, 14 and the grace of our Lord overflowed with the faith and love that are in Messiah Yeshua. 15 Trustworthy is the saying and deserving of complete acceptance: “Messiah Yeshua came into the world to save sinners”—of whom I am foremost.

I had tears in my eyes - not because I was broken-hearted because I was a loser, but because of the joy I felt knowing that I truly was “such a loser.”