Recently, I’ve been thinking about the time when I was a teenager during the late 1970’s. I find that I think about these things more often now that my rear windshield seems bigger than my front windshield. Accordingly, I find it amazing how songs I hear on the radio now bring back vivid memories of things that I was thinking or feeling when I was a young man. For weeks now, I’ve been replaying “Beautiful Loser” by Bob Seger off his “Live in Detroit” album released in 1975. I’ve been intrigued by the song title for decades. What an unusual combination of words ‘beautiful’ and ‘loser’ that Seger uses to describe someone. I recognize both now and back then that it is a rare thing for one to describe a “loser” as being “beautiful.” It begs the question: can there be such a thing as a “beautiful loser?” Can being a “loser” be something that someone else would call “beautiful?”
If you’re not familiar with the song (which is not likely), Seger’s lyrics give us a picture of how he defines a “beautiful loser” by describing the tension and confusion that is often felt by people of any age, but particularly of younger men (such as I once was). Young men want to dream, live carefree lives, and do whatever they want in the moment. And yet, they simultaneously want the wisdom of old men; assumingly to make something of themselves, or at the very least, not make too many mistakes. The beautiful loser wants “his home and security,” but he also wants the freedom to roam around “like a sailor at sea”. In other words, he wants it “all,” and he wants it at the same time. Seger then summarizes this unsolvable tension by asking a very realistic (and wise) question: “what are you going to do when you realize that you just can’t have it all? You just don’t need it all.” It’s a great question that resonates with me at 60 as much as it did when I was 16.
Now some may not appreciate that a secular rock star like Bob Seger can lay down a spiritual truth in the lyrics of a rock song, but he did just that. And it makes me think of something that Jesus said.
For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?
– Luke 9:24-25
Like Bob Seger, Jesus also discusses “losing” with his disciples and the benefits of being a “loser,” except he said it about 2,000-years before Mr. Seger did. Jesus says that the person who loses his life for his (Jesus’) sake is the one who will save it. So, what does he mean? To begin with, Jesus is not talking about physical death here (loses his life). He’s not implying that Christians must physically die to be saved. The answer is more about living life itself, specifically in the words “for my sake.” He’s talking about the choices that we must make in our living every day.
Jesus states in verse 24 that whoever would “save his life” (seeking to improve his earthly life on his own merits) “will lose it” (fail to achieve eternal life). Whereas the one who “loses his life” (seeks not his own pursuits and comforts) – rather pursues Christ and his glory – will save his life (receive all the benefits of God’s promises, including eternal life). And in verse 25, even if the one who improved his earthly life were to have received everything the world could offer (an impossibility), what would be the point? He would lose it all upon his death and be condemned eternally.
Who then is really the “winner” and the “loser”? And how then can the description of “beautiful” be truly applied? The answer depends on your perspective and your daily choices. If your perspective is centered on the here and now, then you will see the one who sought to improve his life on his own merits as a winner and the one who chooses what Jesus offers instead as a “loser.” Accordingly, this is how the world views and treats Christians, as losers.
However, if you believe that Jesus died on the cross for your sins, to cleanse you of your filthiness (including your rags to riches belief system), and that you are trading in your choices centered on self, for choices that are centered on the glories of Christ, then you are the “loser” who is focused on truly winning – for you are beholding the glory of the Lord.
And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
– 2 Corinthians 3:18
While the world sees you as constantly “losing,” your Heavenly Father is transforming your life into one that shines his glory to others. He views you as constantly winning, and you will receive a “beautiful” inheritance of eternal life and serve in his Kingdom forever.
The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot. The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.
– Psalm 16:5-6
The Lord, through the Psalmist, declares that the inheritance we receive is beautiful, and by implication, so is the recipient “beautiful” in his eyes.
So, to answer the question that I contemplated at 16-years old and at 60-years old, there is such a thing as a “beautiful loser.” The “beautiful loser” is the one who is willing to give up his own heart’s desires and pursuits for the desire and pursuits of Christ, recognizing that his earthly pursuits would have returned him very little, and for only a very short time (80-years?). But by choosing the desires and pursuits of Christ in everyday life (again, 80-years?), he will share in the riches and glories of Christ forever and ever. That, my friends, is truly a beautiful thing.