I find it surprising that the Bible tells us to overcome the world.

Revelation 2:7, “To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.”

“Wait, I thought Christ already overcame the world and sin. Therefore, all we have to do is to trust Him. Then, why do we need to worry about overcoming the world and sin ourselves?”

Good question.

I believe that phrase is more descriptive than prescriptive. In other words, it is telling us that those who are true believers, who have put their faith in God truly, WILL endure to the end and WILL overcome the world and sin.

If we do not, that simply proves that we were never really believers.

So, this essentially serves as warning to us. Even though our salvation is secure in Jesus Christ and Him alone, the way we know we are secure is if we endure to the end. If we do not, that probably shows that we never really belonged to Christ in the first place.

This means we cannot be too smug in our position as children of God. It is true we cannot lose our salvation, but are we sure we are saved? How do we really know? Well, one way we know is that we endure to the end.

So, then should we do anything about this? Can anything be done to make sure that our salvation is secure? Yes. We watch to make sure that we overcome the world. However, the way we do this is not through our own strength. But reminding ourselves of what Christ has already done for us. Finding our motivation and the will to live according to God’s desires, contrary to our sinful flesh, in the work of Christ on the cross.

Continue preaching the gospel to yourselves, brothers and sisters. When our past sins condemn us, preach that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. When our insecurities creep up, preach that we have been adopted as children of God. When our pride is about the get the better of us, remind ourselves that we deserved death and hell precisely because of that pride…

Do not give up! Endure to the end!

PH