ARE YOU AN OVERCOMER?

 

 

These types of questions would torment me and my fragile conscience. First John had much to say about being an overcomer:

 

·       I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one… you have overcome the evil one. (1 John 2:13–14)

 

Was I an overcomer? It didn’t feel that way. I was always struggling with doubts and confusions about many things. However, the Spirit enabled me to convert my doubts into clarity through His Word. I found that overcoming was a matter of believing:

 

·       For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? (1 John 5:4–5)

 

The overcomer is the one who has received the gift of faith. Through faith, we have been enabled to escape the deceptions of the various antichrists:

 

·       …This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. (1 John 4:3–4)

 

It is this same gift that has drawn us to the voice of our Savior:

 

·       My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. (John 10:27–29)

I began to learn that I didn’t have to place trust in myself and my worthiness to be and stay saved. He would do the heavy lifting. Yes, I had to walk in obedience to abide in His Word:

 

·       And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him. (1 John 2:3–5)

 

While keeping His commandments doesn’t save us, it is one way that we can assure ourselves that He has received us. How? To trust our Savior is to do what He teaches us, even if we might do so through many struggles. Even when we repeatedly fail Him, He gives us the assurance that, if we confess our sins, He forgives and even cleanses us, giving us a clean start (1 John 1:9).

 

It is like trusting our doctor. If we really trust in him, we will take the pills he instructs us to take. If we refuse, it means that we never truly trusted in him. This is even more true of our omniscient and omni-benevolent Lord, who only wants the best for us.

 

To know these truths give us the confidence we need to stand for Him in times of doubt and adversity.