The triumphant life is so easy, and at the same time, so difficult to attain.  A simple acknowledgment that Jesus is the Son of God seems to do the trick.  It’s as easy as that.  And yet, the difficult part is not just saying it but living it as a truth in our lives.  We all know people who have claimed the prize and then laid it down and left it for some bright, shiny, object that has nothing to do with love for Christ or the things of the Spirit.  Just as certainly as we can claim the truth, there are temptations to distract us, to draw us away from the truth that we’ve come to know and the triumphant life that God has promised us.  Therein lies the danger of death — our inability to rely on the love God has for us, but to continually live as if God has no part of us and we have no part with God.  What cements our triumphant life is God’s grace — that which is unearned — and yet, continues to be the determining factor of our trust in God.  It is the faith factor that says to God that we are trusting in the righteousness of God’s Son, Jesus the Christ, and not on our own righteousness.  Christ has already triumphed over the world so that we are counting on God’s faithfulness to his Son, and Christ’s faithfulness to God for our triumphant life.  And it is God’s Spirit alive in us which is our guarantor that God is alive in us and we are alive and living within the relationship promise of eternal life.

• What is it about God’s Spirit that assures you that you are living in God and that God is living is you?
• What — beyond your confession that Christ is the Son of God — that affirms that you are living being led by the Holy?

Todays Prayer

Today’s Prayer —
Holy God, let Your Holy Spirit alive in me be my assurance that my faith in Christ as Your Son and Your grace are all I need to live a triumphant life.

         Our lives are filled with challenges from the moment we’re born.  From the moment we open our eyes the world has launched its attack defining for us what’s beautiful and what’s not.  Even before we know not to take it in, we choose the things we want.  We choose those things that bring comfort to us — the softness and color of our baby blanket, the smell of clean clothes.  For those who have children, as parents, we would swear we could smell the child’s innocence as soon as they were born.  We’re led from our early school days into the arena adulthood where the world helps us decide what is beautiful or ugly, what is physically appealing and what is not.  We’re attacked by the evil of pride as teachers and school systems reward, ignore, or punish us for achieving excellence or not.  We’re told to strive for it — to reach for it with all our might — so that we can be successful.  They load us up with desires for a good education, a high-paying job, a house, a car, and of course all of the toys that point to our success.  And then without warning (sometimes with an early alert) we encounter God through Jesus Christ who invites us to reconsider all the things the world has conditioned us in the flesh to believe are the things that make for a triumphant life.  We’re invited to “change horses in the middle of the stream!”.  We’re told to not desire those things because the things we’ve been told by the world to desire, appreciate, and strive for — the lust of the eyes and the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life — those things have no eternal value and will ultimately pass away.  What decision do we make?

         And yet, if we’re honest, we’ve always had to make decisions.  We’ve had to decide what to wear and what not to wear, where to go and where not to go, what not to say and when not to say it.  We’ve been free to make decisions that we thought would lead to life, and now God through Jesus Christ invites us by the power of his love for us to make one more decision — to choose Christ and that which is eternal — a triumphant life — over death.  The apostle Paul once said, “When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways.”  (1 Corinthians 13:11).  Perhaps all it really takes to choose and have a triumphant life is giving up the childish things the world has taught us are meaningful, and accept the new triumphant life offered by Christ.  It’s just another decision to make.

• What is your greatest challenge in letting go of the things the world has conditioned you to love?
• What was the easiest thing for you to release and why?

Todays Prayer

Today’s Prayer —
Merciful Christ, the conditioning of the world is a part of who we are. Help us to cut the cords that tie us to death that we might be free to embrace the eternal triumphant life You promise.

In a brief article in a book I read, this story was found.

         In the book The Ascent of a Leader, Bruce McNicol and Bill Thrall tell us of a woman who has a dream where she wanders into a shop at the mall and finds Jesus behind the counter.

         Jesus says, “You can have anything your heart desires.”

         Astounded but pleased, she asked for peace, joy, happiness, wisdom, and freedom from fear.  Then she adds, “Not just for me, but for the whole earth.“

         Jesus smiles and says, “I think you misunderstand me.  We don't sell fruits, only seeds.” [1]

         There seems to be a viable connection between what we plant and what we reap from our planting.  And we have several ways of saying it besides, “you reap what you sow.”  Some people will tell you, “What goes around comes around.”  Others will simply call it Karma.  But whatever colloquialism is used to describe the situation, the same law applies.  And they all seem to have a sense of warning.  Now, perhaps it isn’t universal, but what we do to please ourselves often ends up with us sleeping in the bed we’ve chosen to destroy.  And the converse is also typically true.  Persons who are about the business of doing good and kind things, often benefit from their benevolence.  It doesn’t always happen immediately.  But in time we receive the rewards of our labor in one form of acknowledgment or another.

         God forewarns us of the dangers of living to please our human nature and the benefits of living in ways in which we sow spiritual seeds that will ultimately bear the fruits of the Spirit that point to a triumphant life.

[1] Citation: Bruce McNicol and Bill Thrall, The Ascent of a Leader (Jossey-Bass, 1999)

Todays Prayer

Today’s Prayer —
Holy and Gracious God, empower me to sow the seeds of goodness that will enable me to reap the fruit of a triumphant life, and from the Spirit — eternal life.