"Born Losers – The Phenomenon Of Susan Boyle”

I want you to understand, secondly, that there is a winner inside you waiting to come out. 2. You are a winner. Maybe no one sees it. No one may realize it or believe in you – but Jesus does. Jesus saw the winning potential in people. Someone once said, “Anybody can count the number of apples on a tree, but only a rare and wonderful person can count the trees in an apple.” Jesus had the ability to count the trees in an apple. When Jesus saw Simon he saw a diamond in the rough. Here was this weak, fledging man who became one of the leaders of the early church. Jesus saw the special person God intended Simon to be. Jesus saw a winner.

In Luke 19 we find Jesus’ encounter with Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus was an outcast – a loser in the world’s eyes. Jesus saw his winning potential. Jesus told him to come down from that tree. He was going to share a meal with him. In Matthew 9 we find Jesus’ encounter with Matthew. Matthew was a hated tax collector – another loser. Jesus saw his winning potential.

In Mark 16:9 we find Jesus’ encounter with Mary Magdalene. She had formerly been possessed by seven demons. Can you imagine having her sitting on the front row of your church? What a loser! How embarrassing. Where others saw a loser – Jesus saw a winner. And she WAS!

In John 4 we find Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well of Jacob. She was living with a man and had been married five times. In addition, she was a person with a mixed pedigree. The Jewish people frowned on such things. Those people were losers - lower than dogs, in the Jew’s eyes. But Jesus saw the potential in this lady. He saw a winner – while everyone else saw scum.

In each of those situations Jesus saw the potential, not the problems. He saw winners – not losers. Potential sometimes lies dormant. Oftentimes winners are hidden. "The history books are full of stories of gifted people whose talents were overlooked by everyone - until someone believed in them. "Einstein was four years old before he could speak and seven before he could read". Einstein became one of the greatest physicists who ever lived. "Isaac Newton did poorly in grade school." Newton, like Einstein was one of the smartest people of his day. He was a winning scientist. "A newspaper fired Walt Disney because he had "no good ideas". "It is reported that Walt Disney was, not only a remarkable man, but also a remarkably happy man. But when he started out in Kansas City, he couldn’t sell his cartoons. Some hinted that he had no talent. Disney had a dream, so he set out to conquer his foes. He found a minister who paid him a small amount to draw advertising pictures for his church. Disney had no place to stay, so that the church let him sleep in the mouse-infested garage. One of those mice, which Disney nicknamed Mickey, became famous---as the world knows."

"Leo Tolstoy flunked out of college." It was later on that he wrote the literature classic that we know as "War And Peace".

(SOURCE: Alan Loy McGinnis. Bringing Out The Best In People. Minneapolis: Ausburg Publishing House, 1985, p. 34)