The Underdog
    What is an underdog?  Is it a dog that walks under trucks (like my dog Elmo does)? Webster says originally it is “a dog that is losing in a dogfight.”  It is also a PERSON “who is handicapped or at a disadvantage because of injustice, discrimination, etc.”  How about the young soldier, the poor, the uneducated, the incarcerated, the unattractive, the brokenhearted, the addict, the abused/rejected from youth, the slave, the pessimist, the loner, the outsider, the one who asks too many questions (like me), or the person who just can’t seem to get ahead.  These can all be underdogs & every society has a lot of them.  I’ve heard it said that “people favor underdogs, but they follow top dogs.”
    Well, if there is a just God up there, who does he “favor or follow”?  Does any class of people have an advantage with God?  Does He have priorities?   The point of this message is this: while God is impartial to all, He does seem to identify with or even seek out the underdog.  Consider such Biblical characters as Joseph, Gideon, David, Mordecai, Amos, doubting Thomas, and others.  They needed and received a special touch from above.  Christ’s ministry while on earth focused on the poor & needy & rejected of that day.  Consider the wholesale quantity of amazing miracles performed for the underdogs of Palestine in the four gospels - Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.  Then Christ himself, although he was God in the flesh, was an underdog IN THE SENSE that the religious leaders rejected him & denied him justice.  “He came to his own home, and his own people received him not.”  John 1:11   See also Isaiah 53:3
    Now  the  apostle  Paul  who defined  much of  Christianity  had this to say about underdogs - “. . . not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth; but God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong, God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.” 1 Corinthians 1:26-29   Now James, (who may have been the natural brother of Christ) said this,  “Has not God chosen those  who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom . . .?”   James 2:5
    It is evident that the underdog has an advantage with God, BUT he or she still needs to activate their faith if they want to get anything from divine quarters.  Such as free salvation, God’s blessing, and numerous benefits (see link 28 - “What’s In It For Me”).  Connect with Christ today – “Behold, I stand at the door and knock, if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and eat with him, and he with me.”  Revelation 3:20       “Take delight in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.”  Psalms 37:4    God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”  Psalms 46:1    Choose Jesus, he is alive and loves underdogs such as myself.

Many other Titles : www.gospelnotes.org                                                     * * F. J. Stone * *                                                                                                                                              26