Friday, November 29, 2013

Sweet Victory


My first year in college, I was the secretary of the Freshman Student Government. During my time in this position, I never really felt like I had a huge job, but I knew I was important: I took notes and helped people (myself included) remember what they were supposed to do. The last thing we as a the Freshman team had was put together was a picnic for a student body in the spring. The process of accomplishing this was not fun. Although great ideas were put on the table, and many were carried out, from my vantage point it did not seem as if this feat would go to well. I felt as if we were mostly on our own and little good could come from all the effort and time we were putting into this project we had to carry out. But let me tell you, at the end of the day, after the food had been eaten, the music had been played, and the guests were leaving, my team and I were astonished at how well everything had turned out.
About a month ago I was talking to my friend with whom I had been on the Freshman Student Government. I told them something I  had thought to myself but never would have imagined saying out loud before: “I felt like we had conquered the world that day.” The reason why I never would have said this before was because I had heard this phrase in many songs, and quite frankly I believed it was one of the cockiest, most ignorant phrases I had ever heard. No one will conquer this world except Jesus, when He comes to reign over it (Revelation 20). With this in mind, I could not explain how I felt other than with that ridiculous phrase, because thinking back, I have no idea how what we pulled off could have excelled with all of the opposition we faced.
I say all of this because this morning as I was spending time with God (trying to anyway; I haven’t been so distracted in a while) I felt God leading me to worship Him with a song that wasn’t about me. A lot of worship songs talk about how we will glorify God, we will lift Him high, and the like. I do not believe there is anything wrong with this, but He and I knew I needed to get my eyes off of me for a bit. I looked for and found “For the Cross” by Bethel Music on my iPod and I began worshipping along with the track. When it got to the part where Jenn Johnson sings, I stopped and listened. All of the sudden my mind went back to that conversation I had with my friend and I got so excited!
Jesus came to this earth as nothing in man’s eyes. His father was a carpenter, and his mother was someone people probably assumed cheated on his dad. He did go on to gather a large group of followers and managed to tick off the influential leaders of his time, but from man’s point of view he did not have much going for him. Those who really did believe in Him had little that they could offer him as far as help and support, and in the end he died a death he didn’t even deserve. All the work he put forth to bring people to himself, all the time he spend praying, all the breath he spent on seeking Truth, life and Wisdom for what? In the end his life was spilt on the ground as he hung on that cross. Or so it would seem, from man’s point of view.
I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades,” Jesus tells us (Revelation 1:18b). Can you imagine, after all he had been through, how Jesus felt coming up from the dead and rising from the grave? One can only imagine that he felt like he had conquered the world in that moment. And although this place we live in  is corrupted and full of evil and deteriorating as we speak, Jesus told his disciples and us, “ I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world,” (John 16:33). He has actually overcome it, and we will see him reign in all his glory one day.
I am in no way comparing a picnic for a few hundred students to the conquering of the world that lies within the hands of Jesus Christ, but without meaning to, I might have had a glimpse of what it felt like for the Lover of my soul to rise after all he went through for me, for us. He really deserve all glory, honor and praise, more than we can fully comprehend :)