Victorious by Faith

There is a striking statement in I John 5:3 . There John states that God's commandments are not grievous. If we are really serious and sincere, we will confess that it is awfully hard for us, even years after being born again, to keep God's commandments. Even that strong servant, the apostle Paul, said,"0 wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" (Romans 7:24 ).

The comforting truth, however, is found in I John 5:4 , where we read, "For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith." Faith is God's gift to us that enables us to have the victory over the world, but also over our flesh. If we have faith in God, and in His Son Jesus Christ as our Savior, the undeniable evidence that we were born again, that is, born with a new spiritual life that loves God, is manifest.

Never, before we were born physically, could we do anything. And likewise, before we were born again with that new spiritual life, we could not even desire to keep God's commandments. Here we are taught again that our salvation is all God's work. God causes us to be born again. We do no more for that spiritual rebirth than we did for our physical birth. We did not ask our parents to bring us forth into this world. We could not before our conception and birth even want to come into being. Our spiritual rebirth, and our salvation from beginning onward, are not what we wanted to have come into being. All of our salvation, including the desire for it, is God's gift to us. He gives us the victory then over our spiritual death.

We have the victory over the world, to which by nature we belong, because of what God did. We do and must sing: "Praise God from Whom all blessings flow." Faith is one of these blessings for which we owe Him everlasting thanks.

Read: I John 5

Meditations on the Heidelberg Catechism

Through the Bible in One Year
Read today:
Ezekiel 33 ; Ezekiel 34:1-31 
Hebrews 13:1-25 
Psalm 115:1-18 
Proverbs 27:21-22

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Quote for Reflection:

"We shall never love Christ much except we live near to Him.   Love to Christ is dependent on our nearness to Him.  It is just like the planets and the sun.  Why are some of the planets cold?  why do they move at so slow a rate?  simply because they are so far from the sun;  put them where the planet Mercury is, and they will be in a boiling heat, and spin round the sun in rapid orbits.  so, beloved, if we live near to Christ, we can not help loving Him; the heart that is near Jesus must be full of His love."  -- Charles H. Spurgeon