Overcome the world

Scripture: Who can overcome the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? He it is who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with water alone, but with water and blood, and it is the Spirit that bears witness, for the Spirit is Truth. 1 John 5:5-6

Prayer: As I will leave for a funeral early this morning, please help my words convey in sympathy to those who have lost a loved one, the Lord's truth, and in so doing help us all overcome the pain and torment that sometimes envelops us.

Response: Yes, reflect upon the words overcome the world, not as a conqueror, but as one who contributes to the easing of another's the suffering or maybe a suffering shared by many. So it not across some earthen barricade you are asked to charge, as willing as you might be, but through the barriers of fear, despair, and loneliness to bring a listening ear, compassion and understanding, and thus set the captive free.

So you too are called to bear witness in the Spirit to news of the victory that has yet to reach those villages on the outskirts of a distant enclave. And before you take out a map and finger the location of Helmand Province in Afghanistan, look around you to those whom you might see daily. Bear witness to them of the good news of Jesus Christ.

So you see, you are asked to suit up, cinch up, leave the comfort of your clean well-lighted place and carry provisions of love, mirth, compassion, and service to those who still have not experienced the saving grace of the Lord in their lives—and do it with gentleness, modesty, free of judgment and posturing.