March 21, 2011 - It's Over, Yo!

Do you ever struggle in your Christian walk? Is there a particular thing that is weighing you down? Does it feel at times like the enemy is getting the best of you?

Yes there is an enemy! Yes there is a battle raging! Yes we have the potential as Christians to let our flesh win out over the Spirit! Sometimes this game of life is simply not going the way we intended…

Galatians 5:16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

Did you see that? Sometimes we simply do not do the things we wish or know we should do. (The same is true in a game. I sit and laugh often at fans screaming at a player that has messed up – as though he intended to do so…)

Yet in honor of March Madness I must share quite possibly my favorite quote of all tourneys. Early in Ohio State’s game against George Mason, Jared Sullinger (OSU’s star big man) was being pushed around by the GM big men. He committed 3 straight turnovers and some of the GM players were even mocking him. I am sure that Sullinger did not intend to play that way; and I am sure that the opponent’s mocking of him helped remind him of the powerful, incredible player that he truly is. As a response Sullinger bumped into one of the GM players and simply said, “It’s over, yo.” And it was over! OSU proceeded to thump GM in a major way.

I think sometimes we forget some things in our Christian lives. The enemy mocks us in our frailty. Yet, even though in our strength we are no match for the enemy, in Christ we are more than conquerors. (Romans 8:37) Greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world! (1 John 4:4) And then in 1 John 5 we see that the Spirit that is in us does not sin.

So in this battle of flesh and Spirit we have the call to walk in the Spirit - a call to live a life of victory. It is a call to look at the enemy and say, “It’s over, yo!”