“The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.” – Revelation 3:5
This sounds pretty good, doesn’t it? Spending eternity clothed in white garments symbolizing our purity, seeing our name permanently written into the book of life, and hearing our name proclaimed by Jesus Himself before God and the angels.
So what does it mean to conquer? Probably not what you’re thinking! This conquering isn’t about a muscular and militant Christianity that defeats all opponents. Jesus actually means conquering the everyday challenges and temptations of our lives to truly follow Him every hour of every day.
Conquering is about resisting the temptations of suburban life and pursuing personal holiness and a life of faithful obedience to Jesus. Conquering means resisting the many temptations in our ordinary lives: sexual temptations, financial temptations, ethical temptations. Temptations to indulge our anger, greed, lust, ambition, pride.
Our most fundamental calling as Christians is to actually follow Jesus – doing what He did, caring about what He cares about, and seeking, in the power of the Holy Spirit, to become like Him in personal holiness, righteousness, kindness, wisdom, mercy, and grace. We conquer when we commit and live our lives like that. Of course, we’ll make mistakes along the way, but we conquer those when we confess them to God, ask forgiveness, and pursue increasing holiness and Christlikeness.
Conquering isn’t easy, but there is joy, now and forever, in seeking to conquer – not the world, but the world’s influence on our hearts and minds. Go forth and conquer today. Then do it again tomorrow.