Just Do It, You Win

I hate to exercise. There, I admit it. My name is Jan and I am anti-exercise addicted. But my doctor encourages me to do it anyway. So I do, maybe, sometimes.

I was very surprised to see that a company that encourages exercise uses a Greek word as its logo. And the word is “nike.” I found this word in 1 John 5:4

For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.

The word for victory here is “nike.” A form of this word is used in 1 Corinthians 15:57.

But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

This victory is over the Christian’s adversary. Our enemy is inherited because we follow by faith the One that Satan, sin, and the world opposes. We follow Jesus Christ. And in our following we are challenged by Satan and his influence over our world. It shouldn't surprise us that the Christian walk is not always easy. It is not always popular. It is not always “going with the flow.”

But we have overcome. We have not just been assured of victory by our God. We have been given victory even before the battle. I like the odds of being on the winning side.

My Pastor Wade is taking us through Revelation. And this not a direct quote (I can’t write as fast as he talks) but he said something like this last Sunday. “Satan can only impose delay tactics when it comes to our victory… God is in charge of all events in heaven and earth… The power of evil and sin is not and never will be equal with the power of God… We are supposed to be so immersed in our worship of Christ that when we are in an obvious spiritual battle we completely trust Christ and His ultimate victory.”

I wanted to stand up and cheer. I wanted to shout, “We won! We won! We have victory over battles we haven’t even fought yet! Isn’t this great? We are the champions!” I didn't do this, however, because I think someone would have gently escorted me out of the building. But I did want too.

Our faith is challenged but we have defeated the challenger. Our love for God is confronted by those who love the world but we have overcome. Our joy is temporarily muted but we have the ultimate joy in our victory through Christ.  We live in victory.

When it comes to the Christian life we “just do it.”

 And we just win.

We don’t have to fight for victory, we fight from victory.

Thank you, Nike, for your reminder. You make me want to exercise.