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The Victory

              This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, 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. (I John 5:2-5)

                In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. (Ephesians 6:16)

                The main thing God gets out of your life is not the things you do, but the person you become. (Willard, Dallas, Renewing the Christian Mind.)

                Yesterday, the topic was what happens after we declare our independence. The answer was that we often have to wait. Today’s passage tells us that what we’re supposed to do while waiting is to love and obey God, and those things overcome the world. We tend to think that victory involves beating the multiple words I don’t use out of our enemies. In that sense, the focus of victory is the enemy.

                What today’s passage seems to suggest is that if we want to win the victory, the focus is Jesus Christ. And what that victory entails isn’t what happens to the enemy as much as it is what happens to us. The victory that overcomes the world is our faith. It’s not described as the weapon. In the list of the armor of God, faith isn’t the weapon; it’s the shield, and it’s used to extinguish the attacks of the enemy. The fiery darts hit and go out rather than through. So what provides the victory and what is the victory is our faith. It sounds like what Dallas Willard said above about what God gets and wants out of our lives is the person we become. That’s the victory.

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