"Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ..." 2 Corinthians 2:14
It is a wonderful fact that we have already triumphed over any sin or any circumstance that we "fall into". We can certainly "count it all joy", can't we? Jesus' only interest was to do the will of His Father and to finish the work that He called Him to do. Paul's job, as should be mine and any Christian's, was simply to be a "captive" of the Lord.
I read a quote which said, "The viewpoint to maintain is that we are here for one purpose only, to be captives in the train of Christ's triumphs. We are not in God's 'showroom', we are here to exhibit one thing-the absolute captivity of our lives to Jesus Christ."
How easy it is to fall into a habit of saying, "well, I got victory over THAT one today"...or "it is so difficult to live this Christian life, trying to thwart Satan at every corner", etc. How grieved the Holy Spirit must be when I do that. He has already given me the victory. I just want to be so much His "captive" that I'm there with Him all the time! I Corinthians 1:30 tells me that Jesus is already made unto me "wisdom and righteousness, sanctification and redemption".
I caught a picture in my mind once of Jesus hanging on the cross with each of my sins, written out- in the form of small signs, hanging on Him. The picture of Christ is hazy, but my sins stand out as they weigh Him down more and more. What grief the weight of this sin caused Him as the Father's face had to turn away from His Son for the first time, so that I (and you) could be reconciled to this Holy God. What a shame it is to deliberately allow a particular sin to take precedence over this perfect act of ultimate sacrifice! Praise the Lord that Jesus did shed His blood, bearing our sins, and triumphed over sin and death when He rose from the grave. When I accepted this sacrifice He put me on the train of the Conqueror!
