Articles
WHEN LOSERS ARE FINDERS
Most of us have had the delight of finding something of value —a dollar bill on the
sidewalk, a piece of jewelry in the grass, a tool by the wayside. I recall hearing this saying in my
boyhood: “Finders keepers, losers weepers.” In the spiritual realm, however, the expression
sounds like this: “Keepers weepers, losers finders.” This seeming contradiction is what
discipleship is all about. According to Jesus in Matthew 16:25, if we put our selfish desires first,
we become losers. But if we use our lives for His sake, we receive life in abundance.
A story from the “Choice Gleanings” calendar illustrates the point. Drifting snow and bitter
cold threatened the lives of Indian evangelist Sadhu Sundar Singh and his Tibetan companion as
they crossed the Himalayan mountain pass. Fighting the “sleep of death,” they stumbled over a
mound in the trail. It was a man, half-dead. The Tibetan refused to stop but continued on alone.
The compassionate Sadhu, however, shouldered the burden the best he could. Through his
struggling, he began to warm up, as did the unconscious man. But before reaching the village
they found the Tibetan —frozen to death.
If we sense an inner void in our lives, maybe we’re clinging to worldly values. We must let
go, perhaps risking rejection for witnessing for Christ or cutting back our material security by
giving more generously. Only when life’s energies are put into the cause of Christ do we know
the joy of being losers who are finders.
Dennis De Haan, via Central, San Jose, CA
via church of Christ, Mountain View, CA
“For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it;
but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”
~ Matthew 16:25
