“For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.” (1 John 5:4, ESV)
The world is a scary place these days. For many of us, it is all we can do to survive this world, much less overcome it. But that is exactly what the Scriptures promise for God's people.
Overcoming the world belongs to a very specific group of people. They are those who have been born of God. They are Christians.
We know this because of John 3, but also because earlier in this same chapter we find these words:
“Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God…” (1 John 5:1a, ESV)
In choosing to use “born of God”, instead of some other phrase to indicate faith, John communicates a great truth about the nature of salvation. It is a gift of grace.
I don't know about you, but I didn't choose to be born. I didn't have the capacity to make that choice. I didn't will my way into this world. No, I was simply born and now I live. The way we came into this earthly life provides a great illustration for the way we come into eternal life.
We cannot work for it, earn it, or make it happen. It is freely given to us by the Spirit. He gives us a new heart that recognizes Christ for who He is and responds with faith in Him.
Since our salvation is a total gift of grace, and it is what qualifies us as overcomers, our overcoming is an unearned gift also. Some of us have the mentality that we have to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and just work a little harder. But harder is never hard enough. Bare legalism never works.
The part we play in our Christian growth (which is basically what overcoming the world means) is the same part we played in our initial conversion to Christ - faith. Look at the end of the verse. The victory that overcomes the world is faith.
This faith is in Christ and in all the promises of God realized through Him. We believe that He will do, and is doing, all that He has promised. It is through this faith that we overcome the world because our trust is in the One who already overcame it for us.
Are your eyes on Him in trust that He is working out your salvation in you? Or are you trusting in yourself and your own strength?