Pastor's Letter: Celebrating the victory!
With all that gets “thrown at us” in our culture, with all the negative things that “bombard us” in a typical day, we could easily feel defeated. Maybe some of those things have to do with politics, or maybe finances, or relationships, or our jobs, or maybe some other area of our lives. A time might come when we think our life is less than what we desire it to be, and certainly less than what God desires for us. Maybe we backslid into some sin that we have struggled with (greed or lying or sexual immorality or stealing or swearing or speaking mean, hurtful words or …), and the guilt hits us and we wonder if we will ever get it right; if we will ever win the victory over those things that mess up our life.
The good news we cling to by faith in Jesus Christ is that God took care of that mess when God, in the person of Jesus, provided the opportunity of forgiveness for us and the victory over the power of despair. St. Paul, like you and me, experienced frustration with sin. But Paul also knew the joy that is ours because of the victory won through Christ. Paul struggled over the disappointment that he had with himself as he lamented: “For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do …. wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?” He replied to his own lament and his own question by celebrating the victory that was given to him: “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:19, 24, 25)
The celebration of Jesus’ resurrection doesn’t prevent us from sinning again. No, we don’t have the strength to defeat sin; not on our own. As we struggle with circumstances, we know, like St. Paul knew, those struggles will happen. Unfortunately. But when it does, we know that God doesn’t leave us in defeat and despair or in the lost-ness of our sin. We have the answer to that despair as we trust in Jesus Christ and put our faith and hope in what Christ accomplished when he died in our place, for our sin, and then rose victoriously on Easter morning.
When we go through those times of feeling like we want to give up, frustrated with ourselves and with others because of how sin messes things up and creates chaos and hurt and despair, it is so important that we look to Jesus Christ, the victor; it is so important we trust Christ for the promise of forgiveness, for the promise of victory over the power of sin and death.
