Loser Theology

As a Christian, who goes back-and-forth (somewhat confused) between verses like “turn the other cheek” and preaching the word boldly”, Loser Theology has been a big eye-opener for me.

First off, starting with the foundation of the Parable of the Minas in Luke 19, Clary makes it abundantly clear that our culture has been completely duped into believing that we need to be “losers for Jesus”. To be godly, we must be docile, quiet, and weak. We have been hoodwinked and how pleased the Enemy must be! Especially because, as Michael points out, “If we think that all power should be dismantled for fear it can be corrupted, we simply create a vacuum that evil power can more easily occupy because it finds no resistance.“ This is what has happened to our culture. We have created a vacuum for evil and we can, unfortunately, see that as evil is filling more and more vacuums of power that Christians have abandoned.

Because the devil has convinced so many Christians to give up their power and influence in our culture, we are reaping the effects. Satan has used our own virtues against us. He has used our compassion as an excuse for cowardice. Furthermore, ironically, the Christians, who subscribe to these “virtues“ turn all of their boldness against other Christians. It makes me angry and as the parable points out, at the end of the day, we have no excuse.

Michael uses so much scripture in Loser Theology. In a culture that highly values emotions and feelings more than anything else, it is of utmost importance that we as Christians base our beliefs and arguments on the foundation of scripture, of which Michael does a beautiful job.

Loser theology has been a convicting read for me. It unmasks the true motivation for my silence along with the intentions of other Christians who have been silent in our culture. Fear. Namely, the fear of man. Over the last few years of my Christian walk I started to see the need for me to at least get out of the way of other Christians that were saying and doing the hard things and I’ve been trying to do that by the grace of God. However, this book is challenging me to go beyond that. To not be ashamed of Jesus or what His Word says. Our world needs Christians who are not afraid of truth. Our children’s futures need people to stand boldly in the way of the agenda of evil. “Righteous authority is not oppressive. It is a glorious gift, filled with potential wonder and beauty of things we might build if we are willing to use it.“ as Christians, we can and should be building beautiful things.

Clary also uses examples of Christians in history. Men and women who fought for the freedoms, rights, and even luxuries that we have today. How could we be so blind to think that we are better than the martyrs of the first century and beyond and all because we are more afraid to stand for truth? What a sham! They weren’t killed because they were silent. They were killed because they wouldn’t compromise. We can’t compromise either.

For me, the icing on the cake is that I get to call Michael Clary, my pastor and my friend. I don’t get an inside look at the lives of most of the authors that I read. I have seen Michael’s life and his character, and that makes this read even more real and sweet. I know that he practices what he preaches. I have seen him forfeit a lot of comfort, popularity, relationships, etc., in his pursuit of the heavenly prize. He is a godly man.

I also wanted to mention a couple details about the construction and set up of the physical book itself. As a mother of four who has towed the book along with me so that I could read it whenever I got a chance, it has stood up to all the physical abuse that I have inflicted on it. It is very sturdy and I appreciate that as someone who can tear books up pretty easily. The dustcover is so durable that I can thankfully say it has withstood all of its adventures with me. Lastly, Michael has put discussion questions at the end of each chapter, which I love. I’m someone that needs to talk through these things. With a desire to not always take what I read as 100% gospel (except the gospel itself) but to approach everything like the Bereans, I want to search the scriptures to see if what is being said (or written) is true, and being able to talk with other believers about the concepts of this book makes it easier for iron to sharpen iron.

One of the bottom lines I take from Loser Theology is this: Positions of power will always exist in this world. As Christians, who do we really want them to be filled by? Those who have a desire to bring the kingdom of God to earth or those who don’t?

Get to work, Christians! Build beautiful things for the kingdom of God with the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit! We are gaining ground and the gates of hell will not prevail!

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