I’ve been dealing with a lot of stresses and unknowns this summer (as a lot of us have), and I’m not always the greatest at rolling with the punches.

For example, school starts in less than a month, and we still don’t know exactly what teaching will look like this year. Will we be in the classroom? That’s the plan, but what if things change? Will we end up completely online? Will we come up with some sort of hybrid model? And what will a kindergarten classroom look like with all these new health protocols?

Every time my phone buzzes and I see a message about new CDC guidelines, or new plans for school, or new considerations we have to keep in mind, anxiety rises inside of me and I start to see myself as the victim.

Why, God? Why does this have to be happening? Why can’t we just go back to life and school the way things used to be? Why can’t COVID just go away and never come back?

But Jesus didn’t sacrifice himself for us and then rise again so that we could complain about every broken thing in this fallen world. God doesn’t call us to live as victims. 

Because of Jesus, we are victors.

1 John 5:4-5 says, “…For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.”

This, then, is how we should live—in the knowledge and assurance that we have already overcome this world. We have the gift of being the hands and feet of Jesus in this world for a short time, and then the even greater gift of spending an eternity with our Heavenly Father. And so all the stresses and unknowns of this world… they might frustrate us now, but they are nothing compared to the joy and hope we have in Jesus Christ.

Here are five ways we can live as victors today.

1. Stand your ground in the face of injustice, evil, and temptation.

Ephesians 6:11-13 “Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you mat be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.”

2. Consider your trials with a heavenly perspective.

James 1:2-4 “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

3. Abound in the work of the Lord, knowing that the love you show others will never be in vain.

1 Corinthians 15:56-58 “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”

4. Meditate on the works of grace in your life, and on the love God has shown you.

Romans 6:11-14 “In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.”

5. Rest in peace, because Jesus already has the victory.

John 16:31-33 “‘Do you now believe?’ Jesus replied. ‘A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me. I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.’”

As followers of Christ, no matter how much this world heaps on us, we do not have to live like victims. We are victors in Jesus Christ, the overcomer of sin and death. 

And never forget… you are onederfully created by Him.

Love,
Becca