Victory in Jesus

I’m not as athletic as I’d like to be.

I can’t throw a ball to save my life. If I throw it with all my might, I can’t even make it fly halfway across our church gym.

I can only remember scoring one or two goals in my six seasons of soccer.

I’m an uncoordinated, floppy mess when I swim.

I can’t do the strokes and get air and swim all at once.

My one summer of field hockey was a disaster. I got hit in the knee with a field hockey ball, fell down to the ground, and started bawling. I’ve hated it ever since. (Although, I actually hated it before that incident.)

I’m not a complete nincompoop in tennis or basketball. But my swing and my serve need work in tennis, and I could definitely have better defense and cleaner shots in basketball. Those are kind of the essentials I suppose.

There was one season of victory in my sports career. Sadly, I wasn’t the reason for it.

I got put on an indoor soccer team with one girl and about six boys. Was it fun? Nope. But those stinky boys were good players. They scored lots of goals and blocked lots of shots for our team.

Our team won every game that season, and I didn’t have to do anything special. I just had to play. I just had to show up and get out on the field. I didn’t have to come up with scoring strategies or face the intimidation of being in the goalie box every week.

I didn’t earn that victory, but I got to experience it.

Which is exactly how victory is with Jesus.

He earned our victory for us and lets us experience it. He conquered sin and death, and He shares that victory with us, even though we don’t deserve it.

But if we accept His gift of salvation, we get to experience victory.

But when this perishable puts on the imperishable, and this mortal puts on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written: “Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the Law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:54-57 NASB)

We get to experience the blessings of Jesus’ victory over sin and death. If He hadn’t conquered sin and death, we wouldn’t have victory.

Yes, we feel pain and experience suffering. We struggle to with trials and temptations. But imagine if Jesus hadn’t conquered sin and death.

We’d be trapped in our evil ways and be unable to get out of them. Our addictions wouldn’t be conquerable. Our negative habits would continue.

If Jesus hadn’t risen, then there would be no hope. We would be serving a dead leader who wasn’t able to conquer the grave.

But He did, friends.

If we belong to Him, we’ll go to Heaven when we die and experience eternal peace. And this is only because “He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (v. 57).

I’m sorry to break this to you, but if you’ve conquered something, you weren’t the one conquering it. You have the Holy Spirit living inside you to strengthen you when you face temptation. But you can live and breathe in that sweet victory. And thank the One who earned it for you.