1 John 5:4-5, Romans 8:11, Colossians 1, Acts 20:28

Glyn Barrett reflects on the opportunity each Christian has to overcome.

Glyn Barrett

'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.' 1 John 5:4-5

The passage above asks a very interesting question. Who can overcome? Some questions are too silly to be asked, for example: What does blue taste like? Others have no real answer: Which is the other side of the street? Some questions have interesting answers: What happened to Old Zealand? Whilst others still have no point whatsoever: What shape is the sky? But some questions increase your life. Who can overcome?

Think about the greatest challenges you could possibly face....who can overcome? Think about the greatest odds stacked against you...who can overcome? Think about the sickness that you or your family member is currently struggling though...who can overcome?

It is unfortunate that we have at times fallen into the trap of thinking only 'proper Christians' can overcome life's major challenges. Usually we classify 'proper Christians' as those who seem closer to God. We often assess another person's spirituality by the way they pray, the way they are blessed, or their personality type. Often when a question like this is posed, we point in the direction of another person because we know that there is always someone 'more spiritual' than I.

Even though the Bible is written to the corporate context of the Church and is important to be read in the light of the family of God, it certainly does not absolve us from personal responsibility.

These questions are not for you to answer by pointing to another person. The question is asked of you. Are you an overcomer? Can you overcome? Would it be possible for you to breakthrough in this situation?

The second part of the verse highlights the one thing we need to be an overcomer. Here is the key thing to dwell on while you answer the question.

Belief in Jesus puts you in a different league of thinking, believing, speaking and acting. As a person born of God, the rules change. God puts His SUPER upon your NATURAL and you now begin to live out a SUPERNATURAL existence.

Sometimes we are too content to live and act in the natural dimension, without recognising there is also a spiritual dimension to everything. When your spirit comes alive to God, it is as though you go from seeing things in black and white to colour; from 2D to 3D. Everything changes.

Where previously things seemed insurmountable, now the mountains are molehills. We begin to understand that Daniel wasn't in a den of lions, but the lions were in a den of Daniel's. When you believe that Jesus is the Son of God, you begin to realise that Jesus' life, death and resurrection were done for you. You realise that the same power that rose Christ from the dead is in you (Romans 8:11). Now you are playing in a different league.

You are less likely to worry about tomorrow. You are more likely to have faith for each day, because you know that God did not bring you this far to fail now.

One of my favourite stories is of a young boy who belonged to a very poor family. One day his dad surprised him and brought him home a model sailboat. Together they painstakingly assembled the boat, but sadly on their first day of sailing it, the wind swept the boat away and the model sailboat was lost. The little boy was devastated because he loved the toy; he loved the fact that his dad had bought it for him and he knew they could never afford to buy another one. A week later, the little boy was walking home from school and noticed HIS model boat for sale in the window of a pawn shop. He raced inside and told the shopkeeper it was his, but the shopkeeper said if you want it you will have to give me 50 pence for it. The little boy ran home, broke open his piggy bank and found that he had 52 pence!!! He ran back to the shop and gave the man the money for the boat. As he walked home, he hugged to toy boat to his chest and said, "I made you and I bought you back!"

The same is true of Jesus and you. Colossians chapter 1 says that Jesus made you and despite the work of sin and the devil, Acts 20:28 says Jesus bought you back!

So the next time you are facing a moment where you need to overcome, remind yourself again of the work Jesus accomplished on the cross. He made you and then he bought you back! You are in a different league!