Today I read Revelation 3 and a phrase stuck out to me. John, speaking on behalf of Jesus, stated that he who overcame would be clothed in white raiment and would not have their name blotted out of the book of life. It got me thinking, what does it mean to overcome? Overcome what exactly?
I think it means that if we can overcome the natural man, then we will win the prize, the prize of getting to return to our Heavenly Father with our head held up high, with the joy of looking forward to entering into His rest. I know I long for the day when I don't have to put up with the world anymore and I can have rest from all of this evil that constantly surrounds us. But, it is impossible really to overcome the world on our own, because we are in it. There are some parts of he world that we can overcome on our own, but when it comes to our weakness, we need our Heavenly Father's plan.
I recently read an article about overcoming addiction and how we need God's help to overcome it. It was not written by and LDS author. But it was written by a Christian. I read it online and there were several comments at the bottom. One of them mocked the article and the author stating it was absurd. How could you expect to overcome an addiction by prayer? The writer of the comment went on to say that if he was addicted to alcohol, he would need to do more than just pray really hard for God's help. As one who has overcome an addiction to a sin, I can tell you, that I tried just about everything anyone suggested to me. However, it was not until I "prayed really hard" that I have made any kind of headway on my addiction and fully expect that one day it won't even be there anymore, I will be made whole. So, from that backdrop, I kind of laughed at this person who wrote the comment about it being absurd that you pray really hard and bam you are fixed, I maintain that it is the ONLY way to really and truly overcome an addiction, be it alcohol, tobacco, swearing, pornography, sex, or any other kind of addiction.
I don't understand why even good Christians find the idea of God being part of our lives to be absurd. I don't know if it's some kind of machoism that they feel they don't need God in their lives, but I suspect rather it is the result of incorrect doctrine. People think that God should not be part of their life because they have never been taught that He wants to be, that He is whether we want Him to be or not. They never have been told that they can ask for His help and they will receive it. That is really sad to me. I mean, what do they learn when they go to church? I remember my mom, who did not grow up LDS, was taught that God was really stern and did not have time for us people and our needs. It wasn't until she became a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that she really understood that God wants to be part of our lives and wants us to turn to Him.
It really is just like our earthly parents. They want to be part of our lives and we need to invite them in, otherwise they will always be viewed by their children as butting in, or being intrusive. Heavenly Father wants to be part of our lives just the same and will step in from time to time whether we want Him to or not. However, if we ask Him to be part of our life, we will find amazing things happening in our lives. Things we never though possible. We will overcome the world and will be able to return to Him with our heads help up high. That is what I am working towards. What I long for. Until tomorrow.
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