The Day Between

Where is the Victory?

I usually start a post on this blog with an amusing anecdote about my life and family. There is often something in our experience that we can laugh at – it’s better than crying, right? Sometimes, however, things just aren’t that funny. Sometimes we need to cry. There seems to be many things in life that don’t get fixed, that don’t resolve neatly, that don’t turn out the way we hoped. Sometimes the best advice we’ll get is, “It is what it is; deal with it.”

All the same, I have found myself wondering lately - where is the victory?

Time and again, it seems we fight the same battles. We fall for the same temptations. We fail repeatedly. As the psalmist seems to lament: As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years, or if due to strength, eighty years, yet their pride is but labor and sorrow; for soon it is gone and we fly away (Psalm 90:10). That verse is reminiscent of Jacob’s response to Pharoah when asked how old he was: The years of my sojourning are one hundred and thirty; few and unpleasant have been the years of my life… (Genesis 47:9).

Things can get discouraging around here.

Is it even possible to walk in victory? Will we ever learn to truly walk worthy? As the psalmist prayed, So teach us to number our days, that we may present to You a heart of wisdom (Psalm 90:12).

Jesus told us: Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me (John 15:4).

He went on to say, I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing (John 15:5).

What does it mean to abide?

 According to the International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, abide signifies to await, remain, lodge, sojourn, dwell, continue, and endure.  That is a varied list of synonyms.

What does it look like to await Him? What if we wait for His timing in events, instead of striving for our own way? What if we wait for Him to move in our loved ones, instead of nagging them to death? What if we wait for Him to change us without getting discouraged, downhearted, and desperate? What if we hang on to what Paul said, For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus (Philippians 1:6).

What does it look like to remain in Him? What if we stay faithful to Him with everything we are, everywhere we go, and in every circumstance we find ourselves? What if we determine never to compromise? What if we resolve to be like the prophet Daniel when urged to eat the king’s food, But Daniel made up his mind that he would not defile himself…(Daniel 1:8). As the author of Hebrews states: But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end, (Hebrews 3:13-14).

What does it look like to lodge or dwell in Him?  Jesus already answered this one, If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him and make Our abode with him (John 14:23). Abiding seems to be attached to obedience – it’s not a passive activity. We participate. Jesus, knowing what we’re like – mindful that we are but dust, also gives us comfort: Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In my house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also (John 14:1-3).

What does it look like to sojourn with Him? Sojourn seems to warrant its own definition. Abram sojourned in Genesis while waiting to receive the land and the heir God promised. The people of Israel sojourned in the wilderness while waiting to become obedient enough to enter the Promised Land. We sojourn with Him when we know we dwell in a land that is not our home acknowledging that we’re waiting for the promise of the place He’s prepared for us. As the author of Hebrews reminds us, For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come (Hebrews 13:14).

If we’re not that comfortable, it’s to be expected – we’re not at home.

What does it look like to continue and endure with Him? Paul seems to understand this better than anyone: Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, descendant of David, according to my gospel, for which I suffer hardship even to imprisonment as a criminal; but the word of God is not imprisoned. For this reason I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen, so that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory. It is a trustworthy statement: For if we died with Him, we also live with Him; if we endure, we will also reign with Him; if we deny Him, He also will deny us; if we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself (2 Timothy 2:8-13).

When the road gets rough, we hang on.

And again in Hebrews, For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin; and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by Him; for those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, and He scourges every son whom He receives.” It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline (Hebrews 12: 3-7)?

Where is the victory? We won’t find it looking in the mirror – the victory is Jesus.

Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on the immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory. O Death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord (1 Corinthians 15:50-58).