Triumph In Christ
Uplook – March 2024 — Grace & Truth Magazine
Triumph In Christ
Thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ. —2 Corinthians 2:14 NKJV
Triumph Over Self
When you are content with any food, any clothing, any climate, any social class, any interruption to your life that comes your way by the will of God – that is triumph in Christ (Phil. 4:11; 1 Tim. 6:8; Heb. 13:5).
When you can patiently bear with any disturbance, any annoyance or any irregularity – that is triumph in Christ. When your good is evil spoken of, when your desires are denied, your taste offended, your advice disregarded, your opinions ridiculed and you take it all patiently and silently – that is triumph in Him (1 Pet. 2:20; Rom. 14:16-19).
When you never make yourself the topic of conversation or bring your own good works to the attention of others, or seek after commendation; when you can truly serve unnoticed – that is triumph in God’s Son (Mt. 6:1-4).
Triumph Over Circumstances
When you are overlooked, neglected or forgotten and you smile inwardly in spite of the insult, because by it you are counted worthy to suffer with Christ – that is victory in Jesus (Rom. 8:17-18; 1 Pet. 3:16-18, 5:10).
When you can stand face to face with waste, folly, extravagance and spiritual insensibility, and respond as the Lord did – that is victory. When the enemy presses hard and the world clamors on all sides; when friends forsake and foes attack and you hide behind the blood of Christ, resting and rejoicing in His care and protection – that is truly triumph in the One who loves you (Jn. 16:33; 1 Jn. 5:4).
Triumph Over Life And Death
When life and death are both alike to you through Christ, and to do His perfect will is your delight – that is triumph; for through Him you may become able to say, “Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death” (Phil. 1:20; see 1 Cor. 15:54).
When others are content with an appearance of holiness, with an ambition merely to be “saved … as through fire,” and you claim your full inheritance in Christ as an overcomer who reigns with Him – that is triumph in Christ (3:15; 2 Tim. 3:5; Rev. 3:21).
When, like the apostle Paul, you can cast all your suffering on Jesus, coming to know His overcoming grace and saying from a surrendered heart, “Most gladly ... I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake” – that is triumphant living (2 Cor. 12:9-10).
Triumph In Christ!
To live triumphantly, then, is to live wholly in the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. You must not dwell too much on your weakness or too much on the strength of your foe. You must be absolutely taken up with the Lord Jesus – with His keeping power, His conquering power, His victory, and your share in it (1 Cor. 15:57).
To triumph in Christ is to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ,” and thus to triumph over self (Rom. 13:14). Remember, “in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (8:37).
This article is available as a tract fromGrace & Truth..
Second Corinthians 2:14-17(NASB95)But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is adequate for these things? For we are not like many, peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God.