Overcome Through Faith….

I struggle with dealing with the world. If I ever watch the news or read something on social media, it gets to me. I don’t exactly know why I let it bother me, but I do. Maybe I’m no different than other human beings. If you want to legitimize something you want others to agree in order to make yourself feel better. You can’t force agreement, yet that’s exactly our goal, so we try anyway. I wonder what’s an effective way to deal with the world? The Bible says we overcome the world through our faith. That means that our trust in God gives us the proper attitude. When we see wrong being done, or we are mistreated, we want to retaliate, get even. But God says, “vengeance is mine, I will repay”. So our faith keeps us from trying to get even, by giving up our right to get even. It’s called forgiveness; the very thing God has done for us, and commands us to do for others. Our faith overcomes the world by aligning our “thinking” and in turn determines our actions (behavior). The world takes notice when our behavior contradicts man’s natural tendencies. It’s odd, or bizarre to some witnessing a believer doing what the Bible tells us to do, but it will be either a powerful witness to, or a strong conviction against, whomever is the recipient of our action. When I find myself getting worked up about the ways of the world, I have to lay aside what I feel, and focus on what I know to be true, God’s word. Then I need to ask God to renew my spirit with the right kind of thinking (Romans 12:2). This is how faith overcomes the world, and it’s a daily, moment by moment process, not something you do once a week on Sunday.

1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has become a child of God. And everyone who loves the Father loves His children, too. 2 We know we love God’s children if we love God and obey His commandments. 3 Loving God means keeping His commandments, and His commandments are not burdensome. 4 For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith. 5 And who can win this battle against the world? Only those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God. 1 John 5:1-5