For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.
1 John 4:4-5 NIV
When you hear a story of overcoming, it is likely about someone who accomplished something great despite the disadvantages they faced. They might have been born in poverty, come from a dysfunctional or abusive family, had severe physical handicaps, or been part of an oppressed people group. But they overcame those disadvantages to succeed at whatever they were pursuing.
John tells us in this passage that those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God will overcome the world. But what does it mean to overcome the world? Will we be able to install godly governments, legislate morality, and ensure that everyone correctly observes Christmas? In other words, have everything done our way? Or does it mean something else?
As much as we might want the world to submit to us, what John tells us is quite different. We overcome the world when we do not conform to the standards of this world. But instead, we follow Christ as his disciples, living lives distinct from the world around us.
In doing so, we could suffer physically, emotionally, or economically. But when we remain faithful to our Lord, we are overcomers. We have not been defeated by this world and its rulers, both physical and spiritual.
And what is it that enables us to be overcomers? John says that it is our faith—because we believe that Jesus is the Son of God. We believe that Jesus, even in his death, overcame the world and now sits at the right hand of God. And our hope is that, regardless of what might happen to us in this life, if we remain faithful, we will one day join our Lord in glory. And that faith allows us to endure the trials and thorns that come our way, overcoming this world and everything in it.
