Are you an Overcomer, or just a Survivor?

by Jonathan D. Hodges

Life is a journey that takes us through the best and worst of times, and it places us in situations which we often have little control over. This being the case, it is our daily and habitual decisions which determine our future - more often than the unavoidable and uncontrollable factors.

As a follower of Christ, you are continually faced with choices which will either strengthen or weaken your relationship with God. Although it’s easier to follow your own will and feed your own lusts, as a Christian you have made your decision and there is no turning back. Yes, you will fall, and yes you will rise up again.

But how often you fall and how long it takes you to get back up are decisions that only you have the power to make. Are you truly an Overcomer, or just a Survivor?

An Overcomer builds a resistance to those traps which would drag him down, by refusing to fall into them. When he does, he quickly gets back up again and strives to grow even more in the Lord.

A Survivor is more careless, and does not have the fortitude to continually resist those things which separate him from God. When the Survivor falls, he often becomes burdened with guilt and sorrow for what he’s done, and sometimes lacks the ability to forgive himself – though knowing that God has already forgiven him.

One of the most rewarding experiences of this journey is being able to have the strength and the will to be an Overcomer: where you continually grow in the wisdom of Jesus Christ - instead of simply surviving one day, or Sunday to the next.