Ensign: Winners And Losers

All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3

AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 2 November 2012

WORD COUNT: 2,606

When Christ was born in Bethlehem, the philosophy of Confucius had already become a part of the mental makeup of most Chinamen. Not however in its pure, original form. Most religions change as time goes on. Christ preached humility and meekness and absence from worldly ambitions, but fifteen centuries after Golgotha, the head of the Christian church was spending millions upon the erection of a building that bore little relation to the lonely stable of Bethlehem.

(Hendrik Willem van Loon, The Story of Mankind, 1921)

I was not sure where to begin this Ensign today. This weekend my family and I are moving back into our house that got flooded last year, exactly one year to the day we had to move into the FEMA trailer where we've been staying, and I praise God for that! As I write this, to my knowledge my mom who got moved to a nursing home in Harlan, Kentucky to be closer to a hospital there is out of the hospital, but her condition's deteriorated so bad that hospice has been called in. Please pray for her with me.

We may not know who first said “winners write history” or “history is written by the winners” (though it's most often attributed to Winston Churchill) but it can still teach us something. The fact that any account has survived months, years, tens, hundreds, or thousands of years should tell us that someone survived to write it, whether an active participant in their nation or culture's history or not. Heck, the fact that you're reading this implies that the teachings of Jesus Christ the Son of God have survived.

Oh, they've been translated (English didn't even exist when Jesus walked the earth) and adapted (check the variety of Bible translations available today) and altered (boy, do I NOT want to be in the shoes of those who've done that at the Last Judgment), but over twenty and approaching twenty-one centuries it's a burden for even the most hardened atheist or the most divided agnostic to prove this is just made up. The Golden Rule did not originate with Jesus by any means …

… but it's the first time history records that truism “do unto others as you would have others do unto you” with a positive spin. Check it yourself, other religions and creeds have a statement similar to “what you do not want done unto you, do not unto others”. It's easy to condemn the Bible (and it's often done) as a litany of God's prohibitions – thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not commit adultery and the like – instead of God's freedoms. Most of all, you have the freedom to lose.

What does that mean? This coming Tuesday we in the United States are going to vote for a variety of local issues and candidates as well as whether to keep our same president for another four years or elect a different one. One of them's going to lose; on any issue one side is going to lose. Now I think the real test of character in that circumstance is would the losing opponent be willing to serve in some capacity in his former opponent's administration, but I digress.

The losers become the winners because God is with them. Do not take it too badly if your preferred candidate – or you, if you're one of the losing candidates reading this – lose next week. Besides the proliferate (and I'll confess, at times overdone, but keep in mind parts of the Bible were recited for centuries before they could be written down, and repetition keeps what you need to know in your head for when you need it) passage of wisdom and good conduct, the Bible is primarily about losers.

Losers, that is, by their own efforts. Abraham did become the father of many nations, but in God's time and not his. David did become king of Israel, but in God's time and not his. And you and I (for the Bible isn't just that musty dog-eared book in your hands when you live by it; YOU ARE and YOU BECOME part of the story God's used His people for thousands of years to tell and is still telling it) will become the greatest people our God created us to be, but in His time and not ours.

And we're gonna win,

David

P.S. I write this weekly devotional to keep in touch with all of you in my address book, and I hope to be an encourager to action too! If you find that I'm not or you want me to get lost, just let me know -- thank you!

Thank You, Lord, that we can come to you in prayer and that You provide for all our needs, even when we don't know what they are. We pray for the peace of Jerusalem on both sides of the fence there and around the world.

Thank You, Lord, for everyone in leadership and service, both here and abroad. Thank You for the opportunities we have and the promise of new life through You. I pray that we all seek and have a blessed week! Amen.