A Misunderstanding

(Found here)

“…At an even deeper level is a misunderstanding of what a successful spiritual life looks like. We think holiness is essentially victory, a rigorous conquering of all our spiritual foes, both internal and external. We believe that the measure of success is our battles won, our feats of strength, our boundless determination. But this is simply wrongheaded and the quick road to discouragement.

A priest I know labeled Christianity a religion for losers. And indeed it is. Jesus did not come for the healthy, the competent, the strong, those who could pull themselves up by their bootstraps. He came for the broken, the weak, the sinful. He came for the losers. He came for those whom the world—and the proud religious zealots—deemed unfit, incompetent, and loathsome. He dined with publicans and sinners, much to the horror of the Pharisees and the more ‘sensible’ folk. He healed the lame, the blind, and the lepers…

…Christ’s association with failure was offensive to the great ones of the day, especially for one who proclaimed himself to be the Messiah, the conquering deliverer of Israel. They were horrified by his association with the weak and the sinful, the losers.

But the truth is that Jesus is attracted to brokenness and weakness. He doesn’t admire the strong. He is strength itself, and we can’t impress him with even the greatest spiritual feats. He loves the weak, especially those who know they are weak. Those who catch his ear and move his heart are those who cry loudly, like Bartimaeus, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me!’ and who won’t stop until they are healed (Mk 10:46–52).

Jesus is God with us. He is the ineffable Divinity incarnate. This should amaze us, but even more amazing is how often Jesus went out of his way to identify and participate in our weakness and brokenness and pain. He chose to be born to poor parents who lived in a poor village. Not content with a ramshackle hut, he chose to be born amidst the refuse of animals. His entire life was characterized by suffering and rejection; he was ‘a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief’ (Is 53:3). And his earthly ministry ended in the seeming failure of the Cross.

Here is the beautiful truth hidden in these facts: Our Savior does not come to us in a position of strength. His entire life was an identification with, and a participation in, the brokenness of our humanity. Jesus does not rescue us from drowning by tossing us a life vest while he remains safely on the shore. He rescues us by plunging into the depths of our misery and transfiguring it from the inside out.

You have failed again? You are broken? Humble yourself. You should expect nothing less than failure. Apart from Christ, you are a failure. Embrace that fact. …reach the end of yourself … cry out in desperation with every fiber of your being, ‘Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me’…

The spiritual life is not about victory through our unaided effort. Our efforts in themselves are nothing—less than nothing. It is true that God requires that we try, that we struggle and fight, but the victory is always His. Jesus is our strength. He is our success. He fights for us and conquers death and hell on our behalf. He entered the brokenness of our humanity and rescued us from the inside out. Our victory is not found in conquering on our own but in becoming one with the Conqueror.”
~Sam Guzman and Dale Ahlquist