Sometime this past summer I wrote a statement in the Notes App on my phone that recently caught my attention once again.  I don’t where it came from.  I placed quotation marks around it, but no owner cited.   I am not sure who said it.  Possibly it is something I heard a camp speaker say or a friend spoke it into my life.  It may have been my own thought in response to something.  Unfortunately, I cannot give credit to myself or anyone else.  Yet, somehow, I felt compelled to note these words.

“We don’t need to strive for victory; we live our lives out of victory.”

Maybe you have just read this a few times already as I just did once again.  It is one of those kinds of statements that seem so simple yet very profound.  It takes a few moments to digest it.  The temptation is to quickly approve of its truthfulness and yet dismiss it out of the fear of genuinely facing the challenge of its meaning.

So, what does it mean exactly?

The first part of the statement seems easy enough.  We don’t need to “strive for victory.”  Whew!  Good to know.  Now I don’t have to work so hard.  Wait . . . hold on a second.  What is the victory I’ve been striving for?  It would seem that to understand this statement in its entirety I must have at least an idea of what victory stands for, what it represents.

The dictionary definition of the word victory is a success or triumph over an enemy, or, the ultimate and decisive superiority in any battle or contest.  Ok, so, what I am gathering so far is that if I’m facing something down, an enemy of sorts, such as a difficult situation or a strained relationship, or perhaps a repeated failure, then having victory over said thing is what I strive for.  Well, what’s wrong with that?  Don’t we all want that?

Well, of course we do.  But here is the problem.  Because we all want to have victory over whatever it is we are facing, in our striving we are trying to control the situation.  Our act of striving for victory suggests we think we must do so if we are ever going to be on top of it.  Intentionally or unintentionally we take the reins and attempt to figure it out on our own.  I don’t know about you, but most often when I am doing that, I fail miserably.  I get it wrong more often than not.  And even if I got it right, it was likely too late to matter.  Can anyone relate?

The second part of that statement says, “we live our lives out of victory.”  So, if I just stop “striving” then things will work out on their own?  Well, kind a sort a.  But not exactly.  See, when we have placed our lives under our own control, we become blind, or easily forget that the Lord gained the victory for us.  Already.  It’s done.  But we forget.  We forget all the time.  Like, every day we forget.  Multiple times a day, we forget.  Is that because we don’t really believe?  Before you summarily dismiss that question, I think that is a worthwhile question to ask ourselves.  I mean, it makes sense that if Jesus truly did win the victory over “the enemy” and sin, for all humanity for all time, then we simply shouldn’t have to worry anymore.  About anything.  Really.

No, I’m not suggesting we can do whatever we want and not take responsibility for our actions, etc., etc.  Now you’ve taken it too far.  What I am saying is if we truly believe in what Jesus did on the cross and in the resurrection, that is a victory he claimed for all of us.  If the victory is claimed already, then why do we consistently feel compelled to strive for our own victory?  Do you know what that means?  That means we can live in freedom.  No, not freedom to do whatever we want.  But freedom to simply live with a peace of mind, peace in our hearts, peace in every situation and circumstance.

Another definition in the dictionary for victory says it is a success or the achievement of a superior position.  When Jesus won the victory for us, it was a gift intended to empower us to live with a freedom from having to win our own victories.  And if we can just embrace this truth, we will truly be living our lives out of victory.  The benefit of Jesus’ profound and eternal victory has placed us in a superior position over the “enemies” found in this thing called life.  So, it is time to release the reins and live in freedom.  Go ahead, whatever it is you’ve been fighting, whatever the battle may be, go ahead and release it.  Live your life out of victory.  Go ahead.  I dare you.