Is my life a testimony of sacrifice and serving or is it a testimony of filling my own needs?
Are we waging a good warfare or is the enemy getting all the victory?
Are ywe walking as a victorious Christians who have entered the race with a winning attitude or are we simply trying to limp through the race – hoping we will somehow make it to the finish line?
Is my life characterized by faith, belief and obedience or is it characterized more by unbelief and disobedience?
It's important to understand that being an overcomer does not mean that we walk with a sense of pride and arrogance, but rather just the opposite. An overcomer is one who walks in a deep sense of humility, putting your confidence and trust in Christ and the ministry of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
1 John 4:4 You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
- "Christianity made people who were things into real men and women, more, into sons and daughters of God;
- It gave those who had no respect, their self-respect; it gave those who had no life, life eternal;
- It told men that, even if they did not matter to other men, they still mattered intensely to God.
- It told men who, in the eyes of the world were worthless, that, in the eyes of God they were worth the death of his only Son.
- Christianity was, and still is, the most uplifting thing in the whole universe."
Our primary relationship that defines who we are is that of being one of God's own children. He is our daddy. We are all members of His family.
The spiritual family that God has placed us in now takes precedence over our natural family. Jesus shows this in His own example of His mother and brothers.
For many of us our secular education has helped to define the person who we are. As Christians we must realize we are now enrolled in a continuous education of the Holy Spirit and the word of God. The new education we receive in this realm will help to further define the person we are in God and His kingdom.
One of the most important characteristics of a Christian that really helps to define us is that there is a continuous character building going on in our lives. We continue to get stronger and stronger in the Lord Jesus Christ and what He is doing in our lives.
Sheldon Van Auken in his excellent book Severe Mercy has a piece that says, "The best argument for Christianity is Christians – their joy, their certainty, their completeness.
But the strongest argument against Christianity is also Christians – when they're self‑righteous and smug in complacent consecration. When they're narrow and repressive, then Christianity dies a thousand deaths."
