For the last couple of weeks, Emily and I have been working through an issue that has been causing a tremendous amount of anxiety in our home (which is made more difficult by the fact that I’m off traveling at the time of this writing). Since the issue came to our attention, we’ve been working to get it resolved. We’ve done all we can, and now it’s in the government’s hands. All we can do now is wait, and pray.
This kind of anxiety is what we’ve been living with on and off for about two years, but never to this degree. It’s what we’re probably going to be dealing with for the next two years or more as we consider our options for our future here in America. At times, it can be crippling. It creates a constant sense of fear, of dread, even despair. It is exactly the kind of thing that we don’t want or need, because it keeps our minds off of what’s most important. It makes it hard to see all Christ has done for us.
While doing a bit of reading on Saturday night, I found this quote from Martin Luther particularly helpful. He said,
Christ’s victory … is the overcoming of the law, of sin, our flesh, the world, the devil, death, hell and all evils; and this his victory he has given to us. Although, then, these tyrants and these enemies of ours accuse us and make us afraid, yet they cannot drive us to despair, nor condemn us; for Christ, whom God the Father has raised up from the dead, is our righteousness and victory.
This is a simple truth that I need to be reminded of. One that, when I’m experiencing fear and anxiety, I’m tempted to forget. Whatever comes to accuse us and make us afraid cannot supplant that. And no source of anxiety—no government, no amount of paperwork, no nothing—can ever overcome Him. He has defeated everything that exists to condemn us. He is our victory.