The Victorious Christian Life

Congratulations to Coach Bobby Johnson and the Vanderbilt Commodores!!!!

Last night Vanderbilt beat The 'Ol Ball Coach by defeating the 24th ranked South Carolina Gamecocks. The special teams played extremely well as did the defense. Both put the offense in good field position and they made big plays to get touchdowns rather than field goals.

I must confess that I did not allow myself to enjoy the second half. I just kept waiting for Vandy to lose it. I have been watching The 'Dores for years and I've seen them have a lead and then lose it by turning the ball over or just running out of steam. I did what many Christians do in the face of long-term struggles with habitual sin. I miserably waited for and anticipated defeat.

All believers struggle with sin. Some have struggleld more and for a longer time. These Christians many times will do well for a while, but there is something in the back of their minds that tells them that they are going to fail. They beleive, as I did about Vandy, that they are destined to lose the battle.

Unlike football where the game goes to the strongest, believers must learn that the battle is not won by the strongest, but the weakest. The way sin is overcome is through living in grace.

2 Corinthians 12:7-10 To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Believers are made strong by the indwelling Spirit.

Romans 8:12-15 Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. 13For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, 14because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”

The so-called pramatics who live by will-power say, "How does that work?"

It's simple. The fruit of the Spirit is love. When you love God, you obey God. Living the Spirit-filled life is the exact opposite of living the self-focused will-powered life. The Spirit-filled life lives to say, "Yes, Lord." The self-focused will-powered life is lived saying, "No." God wants us to live saying "yes" to him. Yes, I trust you God. Yes, I know you love me God. Yes, I love you because you loved me and gave yourself for me. Because I love you, I will trust and obey you. The self-focused will-powered life is lived saying, "No, I won't give in. No, I won't do this or that."

God wants us to live saying, "Yes!"

Whenever we sin, we in essence say "no" to God. We say, "No, God I don't trust you. No, I don't believe you want what is best for me. This sin is best for me. Instead of loving you and obeying you in trust, I am going to love myself or something/someone else and trust and obey that or them." That is what sin is. It is refusing to love God.

To live victoriously in Christ we should expect to love God at all times. We must live in the Spirit, which produces love. The love we have in Christ is revealed as we trust and obey. As we trust and obey, we avoid the failure of sin and we bask in God's grace. Grace brings the victory.