Overcoming the World
Baseball camps in the summer were some of my favorite weeks out of the year. The UCSB baseball team would come to the Valley to put on the event when I was about 10 years old. These college dudes may as well have been big leaguers. My friends and I looked up to these guys with awe because they were living out our dream.
The daily game of pickle was the big hit of the week. The whole camp would disperse across home plate and the three bases. You could run any direction. Whoever was the last runner standing won. It seemed as though the UCSB players never missed a throw, just watching them play catch was tantalizing – there was so much to learn from them.
I was in church the other day and we were singing the song “Overcome.” The song is written based on the words of Jesus penned in John’s gospel, “Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
We’re also told in Hebrews, “For we do not have a high priest (Jesus) who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15).
See, these UCSB baseball players weren’t just random dudes who liked baseball. No, they were good. In an even greater way, Jesus didn’t just come down to earth and experience what it’s like to be human and fail like we all do. No, Jesus stepped fully and completely into our reality and lived perfectly.
When you’re wanting to become someone or something, you find a person who is doing that thing better than you so that you can learn, grow, and model yourself after them. We see this in apprenticeships, discipleships, internships, etc. On a macro level, Jesus showed us how to not just be in the world but rise above it and live well.
When you take the time to consider it, the story of the Gospel is mind-blowing. God Himself saw the world in its sinful and broken state and chose to step into the world, fully human, to pay the price for our sin. In the process, He gave you and I a model to base our lives after.
He doesn’t just know what it’s like to be here, he beat it. He overcame the world. He showed us how to live in the world while not being influenced, enticed, and formed by the world.
If you want to be a plumber, apprentice under a plumber. If you want to be an athlete, follow an accomplished one. Friend, the believer is called to “not conform to the patterns of this world. But be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Hebrews 12:2a). Do you have a longing in your being to live the way that you were intended to live? Look no further than the life God Himself exemplified for you and I. Jesus showed us how to live and in doing so – overcame the world.
