It’s not just that we CAN overcome, but that we are CALLED to
overcome.
1
John 5:4-5 King James Version (KJV) 4 For
whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that
overcometh the world, even our faith. 5 Who is he
that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?
John is telling us as Christians that we
can overcome.
As a child King David overcame a lion and a bear. As
a teen, a giant called Goliath. He defeated an army of Philistines and was
considered a mighty warrior. Then he lost his position, and spent years running
from King Saul and hiding in caves, afraid for his life. Can you imagine how
that would feel after so many victories? Did he wonder “God, where are you?”
Have you ever felt like that? We all have.
John tells us we can overcome. It’s a
choice we make. We have to overcome the world.
The world is shiny. It’s pretty. It
attracts us, draws us in. It’s loud, and it looks easy.
1 John 2:15-16 15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If
any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust
of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
We’re not supposed to love the world. It’s
possible for any of us to sin and all of us do. It’s possible for any of us to
walk away. The world is full of shiny things. We have to decide to be
overcomers. Yes, we as Christians can overcome the bright shiny things of the
world.
There are some things that can help us
do that.
We need to have someone to be
accountable to, someone who will call us out on our sin.
We need to acknowledge that there is a
problem – sin, Satan, temptation…
1Peter 5:8 8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a
roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
Satan’s specialty, what he does, is he knows your
weakness. That’s where he aims his arrows, toward the chinks in your armor.
If you’re a soldier and you aren’t wearing your
armor it can be very dangerous. There was a man in Vietnam who was there
training soldiers. He was making them wear inch thick steel breastplates. There
was a small soldier, who could hardly carry it because the weight was so great
for him. One day they were walking through the jungle, and he was shot, right
in the chest. He went down, but after awhile he was able to get back up, and he
had a big dent, but he was alive because he was wearing that armor.
We’ve seen the world destroy churches, pastors,
families, people. Satan tries to destroy our witness, distort our desires, and confuse
our value system. If we are reading the world of God and comparing it to the
world around us, we see a big difference. I was raised with different values.
It was okay to lie, cheat, steal, hurt other people, whatever you needed to do
to look out for yourself. When I accepted Christ as my Savior the Holy Spirit
changed me, changed my values, and my life became different. The world needs to
see us be different.
Paul Brow, Haven of Rest
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