good grief
Good Grief
Your A Loser Charlie Brown
Good grief! That is a well-known expression in the life of Charlie Brown. This famous age-old cartoon character from the peanuts series cannot catch a break. In fact, you could call him a stereotypical American loser. Whenever he tried to kick the football, Lucy pulled it away at the last second and he flew through the air to land flat on his back. His baseball team has never won a game. Every spring, Charlie Brown went out to fly a kite, and each time it ended up in the tree.
“Good grief” he would say in disappointment. Charlie Brown is a loser. No one wants to be like Charlie Brown. Nobody idolizes him. No one looks up to him. We might feel sorry for Charlie Brown but deep down inside we are relieved that we are not that bad…
I’m A Loser Too
However, many times I have been in a “good grief” situation. A Charlie Brown loser moment. Paul refers to this in Romans 7:15, “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.” Charlie Brown could relate to this as well. We read on in Romans 7:18, “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.” I admit I am a loser to sin. I realize what I have done and think “good grief.”
A New Life In Christ
But when I take these sins to the foot of the cross, I have a new life. I find this truth in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” I am a new person with my identity in Jesus Christ. Because of the blood of Christ, my sin or failure no longer defines me. Not only am I forgiven, but I have become a new person, a child of God (1 John 3:2). And not one of God’s children are losers!
Take another look at Charlie Brown. He is loyal, determined, a true friend, and a dedicated baseball manager. Charlie Brown never gives up, he is kind, patient by nature, and wears his heart on his sleeve by helping others. I see this as his new identity.
My Identity
Where is my identity? Through faith I am dead to sin. Yes, I am a sinner. Absolutely, I just blew it big time. Yes, I knock things on the floor and I’m clumsy. But because of the blood of Christ and what he purchased on my behalf, that sin or failure no longer defines me. I am alive to God. By his doing, I am created in Christ Jesus for good works. I am chosen and set apart by God for noble, worthy, and holy purposes. This is my new identity. A worthy, good grief.
Dear Lord, help others with a new identity through you. To understand and see
that they are a winner and not a loser. Amen.