Faith, mighty Faith!

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"Our faith is what overcomes the world" (1 Jn 5:4)

How to be victorious over sin? This is the problem of problems. A concise but comprehensive description of sin is given in 1 John 2:16. "All that is in the world — the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life — is not of the Father but of the world." All sins fall into these three only.

Take for example, the temptation faced by Adam and Eve. The fruit was good to eat — This is the lust of the flesh; It was pleasant to look at — This is the lust of the eyes; They were promised that they would be like gods if they ate the fruit — This is the pride of life. Jesus Christ the Second Adam faced the same temptation in a different setting of course. "Command these stones to become bread" — lust of the flesh; "Taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world" — lust of the eyes; "Jump down from here; God shall give His angels charge over You" — pride of life. Jesus triumphed over these temptations.

Today's memory text tells us how like Christ we can overcome temptations: "This is the victory that overcomes the world — our faith!" The very next verse points out what this faith is: "Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God" (1 Jn 5:5)? In other worlds, in order to be victorious over the sins in the world we have to just believe that Jesus is the Son of God. Simply profound, and profoundly simple!

This faith is the shield to protect us from the arrows of the enemy. Of all the weapons of warfare listed in Ephesians 6:13-17, we are exhorted to hold the shield of faith "above all!" Even though the helmet, the sword, the belt and the boots are all important, the shield of faith is to be kept above all! The shield is used to protect any part of the body.

Faith is not only the shield, it is also the breastplate (1 Thess 5:8). This is the secret of victory. Christ is our victory. Victorious life is not an experience that we seek to attain. There's no experience apart from Christ. Christ is the Captain of our Salvation. Is it possible that the Captain has triumphed whereas his soldiers are defeated?

Apostle Paul stated the same truth in different words: "It's no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God" (Gal 2:20).

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