At Issue Index In Touch Index July Index Previous Next |
|
Christian Obedience | JULY 5 |
OVERCOMING He that overcometh shall inherit all things. Rev. 21:7. The Bible closes with a great acclamation of victory. When we consider the triumph of God's last message to the world, it surges up in us with a great outburst of hope and glory. The hour of Christ's return will be the hour of supreme honor and distinction for us. Let us believe that, in the end, every true though obscure disciple will receive direct and personal recognition throughout all the universe. "He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and . . . I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels" (Rev. 3:5). Let us banish forever from our mind all doubt as to the Lord's willingness and power to keep us from falling. Let us commit ourselves to be kept by Him. There is one type of Christian no one in the universe will have any doubt about—he whose allegiance is unquestioned regardless of the circumstances. In our whole life we are to come forth as victor, not as vanquished. It is to him that overcomes that the great promises of the book of Revelation are given. We either overcome the world or are overcome by it. Either we are the master of sin or the slave of sin. The man of the world is either the slave or the master of his business. The man of money either keeps it under his feet or is trampled under its feet. We are to gain the mastery of all these things, to render force to our characters, to make us even better and stronger men and women of God, to mellow our lives into a fuller and deeper relationship to God. In the cause of Christ, let there be no doubt as to where we stand. We are standard-bearers for God in the midst of a world that is descending into darkness. Every one of us who is in Christ has the divine power to conquer the world, the flesh, and the devil. In Him we are stronger than circumstances, stronger than sin and the devil. We could not live such a life without God's promises of victory being fulfilled to us. In spite of every discouragement, in spite of temptation, in spite of suffering and death itself, Christ has given us a moral and spiritual vitality and power that overcomes. |