Reasons to Love Jesus: #1 He Cares About Losers

With this post, I hope to start an occasional--but never ending--series about why I love Jesus.

On one occasion, Jesus met a lost and lonely woman at a well in Samaria (John 4). She was a broken woman, having been married five times. We don't know how each marriage ended. Perhaps a few ended in her husbands' deaths. Maybe others ended in divorce.

Whatever the circumstances may have been, she was not married to the man with whom she was now living. Did she think that by not marrying him, she could protect herself from further heartache when the relationship eventually ceased? Did she not truly trust the man? Did he not trust her? Why were they not married?

Why did she go to the well alone? Did other women shun her because of her history with men? Had she broken their trust? Had they hurt her to the point that life was easier alone than with friends?

We cannot know the answers to such questions, but I can imagine a woman who felt like a failure...a loser in life. I've been there. I was a failure who had sinned and could not find forgiveness. I never felt more like a loser than when I received my Bachelor's Degree in education, but could not bring myself to apply for a teaching position. I felt like a loser when I was 24 years old, single, and without a prospective date--much less a potential wife. I felt like a failure when, after 9 years of marriage and trying to have children, I was still without a child.

Jesus, however, did not see a loser. Sure, he saw a sinner. He saw someone who was lost and lonely, but he did not see a loser. He saw someone who needed some attention. He saw someone who needed care. He saw someone who needed help. He saw someone who needed a Savior.

Jesus changed the woman's life. He revealed his identity to her. He gave her a purpose and a sense of dignity. She became the person who led her village to Christ.

Jesus changed my life, too. He forgave me of my sins. He provided me with a good job. He gave me an outstanding wife and a terrific son. He gave me purpose and a sense of dignity, too. He gave me a life I could not have imagined.

Why do I love Jesus? Because he cares about losers like me!