“For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.” – 1 John 5:4
There more you think about the world, the more you realize there is much to overcome. There are the obvious obstacles we must overcome in a fallen world: frustrations, delays, deprivations, disasters, hurtful people, horrible illnesses, physical bodies that inevitably break down over time, minds and emotions that can betray us, and ultimately death. The key to overcoming all of these forces is our faith in Jesus Christ.
Once we trust in Jesus as Lord, we are born again, made new creation, and adopted by God. Through our new union with Christ, we have the power to overcome the negative influence of these hindrances. We’re able to walk in the power and presence of the Holy Spirit regardless of our circumstances. We walk with the certain knowledge that Jesus Christ, Who understands our pain perfectly, walks with us. He strengthens us, empowers us, and sets our souls free to soar!
There are less obvious powers that we must also overcome. These are the reasonably good things which chain us in the world and distract us from God. The world encourages us to take our pursuit and enjoyment of these things too far until our hearts, minds, soul, and strength are firmly rooted and focused on getting more of them. Money, power, success, pleasure, comfort, achievement, fame, status, entertainment….
There’s nothing inherently wrong with any of these, but the more we have them, the more we tend to want them. They grow to dominate our mind, define our identity, control our emotions, narrow our vision for life, and turn our attention toward the world and away from God. Once again, the power to overcome these appealing temptations comes through faith.
Through a dynamic relationship with God we recognize that He alone is the Great that is infinitely superior to that which is merely good. Our faith helps us see and understand what our souls were truly made for – eternity in relationship with God. As we look more and more toward Him, our vision for those lesser things of the world dims and we are indeed overcomers!