DAILY DEVOTIONAL – October 23, 2020
“Surrender to Victory”
Prayer: God, so much of what we see makes us worry and fearful. Lead us in trusting You alone. Lead us in surrendering all and following Your Son Jesus all the way home to the eternal place He has prepared for us through His body and blood on the cross. Amen.
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 15:57
But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Devotion – “Surrender to Victory”
In the middle of the riots that have unfortunately ravaged our country this year, I had a conversation with a high ranking law enforcement officer who was positioned high enough to be a part of dealing with the unrest on a scale far beyond the local, city level. He was privy to a number of regional and even national meetings on the issue. I’ll never forget what he told me because it wasn’t something I expected from a man who was trained to deal with things from a very practical perspective. He said, “Make no mistake about it. It couldn’t be more clear from all that I have heard and seen from both sides of these riots. This is a spiritual conflict. Our country is in the middle of a spiritual conflict. The riots and the need for my job is only a symptom. The sickness is spiritual.”
I didn’t say this out loud to him, but I thought to myself, “I wonder if he wants to preach this Sunday?!”
He was absolutely correct. There is no law, no ordinance, no legislation, no medicine, no policy that is going to resolve what is and always has been a spiritual problem for humanity. God’s Word says in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, “16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. 17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” The world we live in, the creation itself, bears witness to the ultimate reality of the eternal and unseen, spiritual world in our midst. Romans 1 declares, “For [God’s] invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.”
When we see our world falling apart physically, that is only the symptom of a world that has already fallen spiritually. When we see people turning against one another, fighting with each other, going to war either ideologically or literally, we see not the cause of our problems, but instead the consequences of our spiritual problems. Ephesians 6 says, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”
If we identify the problem incorrectly, then we will also identity the solution incorrectly. If we hope to see our nation find some semblance of peace and rest, then we have to ensure we see the problem for what it is.
Author Homer J. Adams illustrates this point well in his book “History Is Fascinating – And I Can Prove It!” In the book he recounts how during the meeting of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, one of the members made a motion “that the standing army be restricted to no more than 5000 men at any one time.” George Washington, being the chairman of the convention, could not offer a motion, but he turned to another member and whispered [sarcastically], “Amend the motion to provide that no foreign enemy shall invade the United States at any time with more than 3000 troops.” Misidentify the problem, you will derive a wrong solution. The problem facing the Constitutional Convention wasn’t how many troops would comprise their standing army. The real problem was the need for an army at all, of any size. The real problem was the existence of the enemy, and more specifically, how many troops they would attack with.
As Christians, we find ourselves engaged in a great, cosmic battle for our souls. If we see what is going on in our world as anything but a battle for our souls, even when that battle appears to be political or philosophical, we do so at our own risk of misidentifying the problem and thus putting our hope in the wrong solution.
The only solution to sin and our spiritual depravity is the One from whom every soul and spirit comes, and the One to whom every soul and spirit will give an account in the end. James 2:19 says, “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!”
We can know the strategy of the enemy. We can study his tactics. We can see what he does in the lives of others and we can see the path of destruction that is left in the lives of those who follow him. What we cannot do is control him. The Good News is, we can control our response. What is the response we should have in this battle for our souls? This may be hard to hear and believe at first, but the answer to victory in this cosmic battle, is surrendering. Our only hope of victory in this spiritual warfare in the eternal realms, is to surrender ourselves to the One who has already won the victory over sin, death, and the devil through His self-sacrificial assault on the enemy.
When Jesus surrendered Himself into the hands of sinners and the wicked and futile efforts of the devil to bring an end to God, He claimed defeat in our place, He was wounded for our transgressions (Isaiah 53), and He laid His own body on the cross, to cover us and shelter us in His blood to protect of from the lethal wrath of God against sin and against the tempter and author of sin, the devil. However, Jesus’ surrender on the top of Mt. Calvary was not a concession of defeat. No, His surrender was the victory. Christ’s death fulfilled the law of God, the prophecies of God, and the righteous blood God demands for sin to be forgiven. God proves His eternal power and His eternal victory over sin and death, by an empty tomb. No less than our Lord Himself, if we hope to see victory in this battle for our souls, then we must surrender all to God, we must lay down our arms, lay down our life, and receive the free gift of salvation given to us by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Then, and only then, will we be enabled to see the problem, and walk boldly in victory already given to us in Christ, and by the power of the Spirit given to us through faith and in our baptism; even when, as we saw when Christ hung on the cross, all seems hopeless and lost. Hope is found at the cross, and only in Jesus Christ. Hope is found in surrender.
Jesus tells His disciples in Matthew 16, “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?” Surrendering ourselves to God isn’t easy, and honestly, it isn’t something we can do on our own. Our sinful nature will fight against it. So, God says in Ephesians 6, “16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; 17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, 18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.”
Fight the good fight of faith in the victory already won for you my friends. Live by faith in the Truth of our Risen Lord Jesus, read the Word of God, and pray at all times in that Word. Remember, that God has forgiven yesterday, is with you today, and has already taken care of all of your tomorrows for all of eternity. Amen.
