Do you like to win? A lot of us are very competitive, I can certainly feel that myself. It doesn’t matter what game I’m watching or what event is going on. I want to be on the winning side and have to fight that sometimes because there are some things that it doesn’t really matter if you win in the long run.
The Bible does tell us this though, in Proverbs 21, verse 31, the horse is made ready for the day of battle, but the victory belongs to the Lord. There are some things where victory is essential. I want to talk about two of those things today.
The first is found in First Corinthians chapter 15. Starting in verse 54. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the same that is written, death is swallowed up in victory, oh death, where is your victory? Oh, death, where is your sting? the sting of death is sin. And the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
I love that statement. Thanks to God, we can have victory over death. That’s a battle that all of us are going to face. And yet, it does not have to be a battle that ultimately we lose. Because through faith in Jesus Christ, we can overcome not only death but the fear of death, its power over us.
And so I do want to encourage you today in your faith, remember, Jesus died and rose again. And Paul tells us he’s the first fruits of those who have died. In other words, what Jesus did, we will do too. He’s just the example. We can look at him and know that we will be raised to life.
The second victory that’s important, is found in First John, chapter five, verse number four, for everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith. This victory is so important because until we die, we have the force of the world trying to press us into its mold. But we don’t have to give in to the world. We don’t have to think like the world or act like the world or believe like the world. Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ gives us the way out. And when we put our faith, our trust in Him, we can overcome the forces of the world and live victorious lives.