The Underdog

Sometimes you just feel like the underdog.  Maybe you somehow feel responsible for something that happened to someone you love.  You feel like maybe you could have done something more, taken action sooner or prayed more.  Maybe you feel so judged that no matter what you do it's never going to be enough.  Perhaps you spread yourself so thin that you feel you can't do anything good enough.  Maybe you feel like you missed an opportunity in life that you know you should have taken, but didn't.  Maybe you just feel like you were never given that golden opportunity.  Maybe you feel like you have wasted your entire life and now there is no point in turning things around because you feel like it's too late.  Maybe you feel like a failure to God, that you never became the perfect Christian you thought he wanted you to be.  Maybe you have faced so much devastation in your life you have accepted it AS a way of life.  You feel like you got the short end of the stick.

We've all felt that way at some point in our lives.  Sometimes you conquer it and come out a better person because of it.  Sometimes you don't.  Sometimes you allow it to fester and become a part of who you are...the underdog. 

At times our problems, or the problems of those around us just seem to big to conquer.  It's so easy to give up and accept things as they are.   After all, it's not that bad being the underdog.  People ignore you for the most part and you ignore all of the problems around you as well.  It becomes easy to just...well...lie down.  You just live your life and let those around you worry about all the rest because they are better, smarter or better equipped than you are.  After all, you have yourself to deal with.

I have good news.  God loves an underdog.  He has made that blatantly obvious to us throughout his teachings in the Bible.  That's helpful.

Let's be honest.  Being the underdog sucks.  But guess what?  It's from that pit that we can come out stronger and better than ever.  It's time.  Time to choose to shine and become part of something bigger than yourself.  There are things, people and places that need your attention, prayer and passion.  Sitting around feeling like an underdog ain't helping anyone.  So, let God do something great with you already. 

  It's YOUR time.

"There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:

² a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
³ a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
⁴ a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
⁵ a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
⁶ a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
⁷ a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
⁸ a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

⁹ What do workers gain from their toil? ¹⁰ I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. ¹¹ He has made everything beautiful in its time."

Ecclesiastes 3:1-10