Matthew 10:28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

Destroy is a difficult term to deal with here because the inference is that God does the punishing once a person is in hell. The Greek word here is apollymi. This is the same Greek word translated as lose in John 6:39 “And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.”

When we think about being separated from God, the basis of our relationship should be viewed through Christ’s work of salvation. When we arrive there will be a separation of the sheep from the goats. Ref. Matthew 25:31-46

The sheep are Christ’s and the goats are the lost or losers. This is viewed from Christ’s perspective, not our own.Those losers end up going to eternal damnation where their tormentor, Satan and his ilk will make life with them a living hell, for all eternity.

Since we can view winning and losing in this way, don’t we all want to be on the winning side?

John 16:33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.

While the word “overcome” does mean conquer in the Greek the word world is adorn; “a harmonious arrangement or order,” then, “adornment, decoration,” came to denote “the world, or the universe, as that which is Divinely arranged.”

My way of thinking this is not a teachable moment but it does give me peace, which should be the point to John 16:33. Jesus has taken back the crown. That which was lost by original sin coming into the world has now been won back.

Think of it in any way that brings you peace but just because I find my peace this way does not mean everyone else must find it also. As we learned in 1 Corinthians 13, love does not insist on having things its own way. I love you enough to allow you to find peace as you need it. My love isn’t perfect, His is.

So the title here is loser but that does not allow me to go around calling the lost “loser”. I have seen first hand that this is an approach that does not work. We are all sinners, the difference is saving grace which should be the focus of discussion when in the midst of the battle for winning souls to Christ.

Some of us are so far removed from our old life that we have lost sight of how it felt to be lost. Grace is not just a salve that heals wounds, it removes the scars. Paul had a thorn in his flesh as a reminder of his imperfection. I don’t need scars to know that.

Genesis 2:2 And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.

Seven is the number of completion and there are seven churches that John wrote about. So we are finished with them. Or are we?

Some could have noticed that I edited those passages and left out the first verse of every letter. John was not instructed to write to the churches themselves but to the angel that is in those cities. 

“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands.”

“And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: ‘The words of the first and the last, who died and came to life.’”

 “And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: ‘The words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword.’”

“And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: ‘The words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze.’”

 “And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: ‘The words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.’”

“And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: ‘The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens.’”

 “And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation.’”

Each and every preamble to those letters is different. Each one can be traced back to biblical events and the last one is the words of the Amen, as in the Alpha and Omega, He who was first and last. The completion has order, even from the very beginning.

Here is the problem with our understanding of order. There is no time stamp. We may see that some things have occurred in our past and some towards our future but there is nothing that says where we stand in time.

Remember Jesus said to beware of those who said “There is the Christ.”