We Win

by Cristina Mojica

Lately I have been bogged down with thoughts of how my life should have been. I had expectations of life at twenty, but nothing is lining up. Everything the world said I would have by now didn’t come to pass; but something better came into my life, I fell in love with Christ.

I’m not going to really talk about that process or the journey, that’s another post (or several), but what I want to talk about is how my expectations have been causing unnecessary tension in my life. In a few days I’m going to be twenty, and for some reason this has put me into a funk rivaling the one Walker went through when he became thirty. My reaction to this farewell to my teenage days has brought me to tears and left me with an unsettling feeling that would suggest twenty is the end of life. Which is ridiculous.

So yesterday, I’m contemplating why things are so difficult, and I can’t understand why, even though I know the truth, my life doesn’t reflect it. I’m not letting go of my pride and ambition with joy because I no longer have to be perfect. I’m not cheering at the top of my lungs because there is freedom in Christ because He died and rose again. I’m not satisfied with being the righteousness of God in Christ. I’m worrying about why my life isn’t the way I had planned it.

At the height of desperation, I flipped through the pages of my Bible. I was looking for the verse that says God’s power is made perfect in my weakness. I thought it might give me the perspective I needed. Instead I found Romans 8:18-39; I read through the passage aloud and the pieces started fitting together:

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

The passage goes on, but the first verse already encouraged me. My suffering is nothing compared to the glory God has revealed in me through Jesus Christ. These desires for normalcy are remnants of the person I was, trying to gain control over who I am in Christ. The mental fight I go through daily is a result of my sinful nature. The very reason I’m not perfect. And my redemption, my only hope of survival is my relationship with Christ:

So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!

So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin. (Romans 7)

It wasn’t until I heard Matt Carter speak on the power of the Cross tonight, that it all hit home. I can’t breakdown the talk because I couldn’t do it justice. I’ll just let you know what I got out of it. (I suggest going and listening to the sermon in a few days when it gets put up on the church website.)

Matt made two statements that really resonated with what I was going through:

[1] Personal gain pales in comparison to what Jesus did on the Cross.
[2] Personal defeat loses its sting in relation to what Jesus did on the Cross.

And Matt’s application for the night – “We win!” It was finished on the Cross, and it was determined long before in the garden of Eden:

And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel. (Gen 3:15)

That’s exciting news! That is something to cheer about! Everyone loves a winner. Most of Austin jumped on the bandwagon of the Rose Bowl victory. The celebrations went on long after the game. So I don’t see why we can’t bask in the glory of the victory of Christ all the longer. The cause is more worthy, the truth runs deeper and the Victor deserves his recognition above any man or woman on earth.

My application of tonight’s talk is to repeat “We win!” until my life starts reflecting my belief in Christ’s victory. Because as soon as I forget that in Christ the victory has been won and Satan has lost his power over God’s children, I fall back into a state of defeat. We win, children of God! Let’s start living our lives like we believe that.