Stung By Loss

 Did you have a favorite team growing up? Maybe you had their poster on your wall. Maybe there was a favorite player and you had them sign your memorabilia. But you followed this team hoping they made it to the championship. You rooted for the win, but felt the sting of the loss. Maybe you were the one playing on the team. Do you remember the feeling you had as the team entered the biggest game of the year? Will you win? Will you lose? The nerves are running high. Do you remember the feeling of victory? The elation of the task at hand. It feels good, doesn’t it? What if it could always be that way for us? To never have to feel the sting of losing. For every believer in Jesus Christ, that is the reality that we can live into.

The truth of the power of the resurrection is that the victory has been decisive for all time. There's power in the mighty name of Jesus. Every war He wages He will win. I'm not backing down from any giant 'cause I know how this story ends. Yes, I know how this story ends. I'm gonna see a victory for the battle belongs to You, Lord (Elevation Worship, See A Victory). We know the story ends for all eternity. Jesus Christ has won the victory over sin, shame and the death that we deserve. The Apostle Paul takes it one step further to say that overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow - not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below - indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:37b-39 NLT).

We’ve been given the greatest gift of all through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Nothing in heaven or on earth nor can anything in all creation can separate us from the love of God. Where once we felt the sting of the loss. Separated from God. Jesus won the victory for us and the elation we have felt for our favorite team’s win can also be the elation we have each and everyday over the victory for our souls. Jesus has won every battle. Finished the campaign that secured our victory over sin and death. Because of that work, we are no longer separated from God, but able to come close to the Father, through Jesus. Easter is more than just a celebration that we have once a year. It’s a renewed declaration that victory has happened. Decisively and with such a finality that we still can feel the effects of it today. Live into that victory today! Feel the triumph that the enemy no longer has a hold on your life. Jesus Christ reigns victorious!