If victory is not for this life, do we just give up? Do we just go ahead and sin because we have no choice but to fall to it? No, that’s the whole point of the fight of faith–God tells you that you win but your sight and experience tell you that you lose.
The fight is to push on through the defeats to rest in the victory that comes later. We lose but in the end we win. Since we are winners who are currently fighting an uphill battle against a world and your flesh set against you, expect hard times.
To assume that victory will mark your life is ludicrous. Any believer who is enjoying the victorious life is probably also a believer who isn’t doing much. The best passage to describe our state is 2 Corinthians 4:8-10.
“We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.”
We’re beaten but not defeated. We lose lots but we never give up because we know in the end the victory is ours. No battle loss here can upset our win in Christ. At the same time, our win in Christ does not in any way guarantee that everything in life will go swimmingly.
He who lives a godly life will suffer persecution, not enjoy victories. To say otherwise is to admit that you aren’t fighting any fight or running any race. You’ve become the batboy on the Yankees, thinking you are solely responsible for their winning.
Bat boys don’t win games, the ones out there in the battle do. Join the battle. In the end you win. Right now we fight.
anti-itch meditation 