Mighty Warriors
Musings from the Garden
By Peggy Wyar
We are all born with a soul disease, sometimes hidden, sometimes exposed for all to see. It can seem that we are leprous, having sores and painful scars on us and in us. We can feel like our disease defines us, but we have a choice.
In 2 Kings 5:1, we meet a man, Naaman, who was described as a captain of the army of the king of Aram. He was a great man and was highly respected, because through him the Lord gave many victories to Aram. Naaman was a mighty warrior, a valiant warrior. He could fight and win…..and he was a leper.
Naaman was mighty but had this skin condition. He was valiant but was leprous. He had chosen to act as if his disease was not the defining characteristic of who he would become. He obviously went on to become respected and capable.
Just as Naaman did, we can become what God has planned for us and not allow the disease we carry to define us. Instead, our sinful nature (our disease), which we have carried since birth, can be considered just one of our many attributes: our humanness.
The amazing grace of God that shines through our broken places can become our strength in all our human weaknesses. This grace enables us to overcome our limitations as we are becoming the mighty warriors that the Lord desires. He sees us as mighty because He knows the adequacy and power we need flow from Him.
This disease should have been our everlasting death sentence. We deserved spiritual death because of how this rebellion caused sin nature separated us from our Creator God. By His mercy and grace, Jesus took the punishment that should have been ours so we could be reconciled with the Father. He was born a baby in the manger with an amazing purpose - to be the perfect, atoning sacrifice for our sin. He lived His earthly life displaying the compassion and love that motivated Him to offer His life on our behalf. Without Christmas Day, Easter Sunday would never have happened. And without Easter, we would still be dead in our sin.
But Jesus did die and He did come back to life, and we are free to celebrate the incredible gift that He gave us - Eternal Life. By knowing Him and being secure in our redemption, we can consider our sin nature as dead (Romans 6). It no longer defines us. We can become the mighty warriors He calls us to be, knowing we don’t battle against people but against spiritual enemies in the heavenly realm (Ephesians 6). We overcome through our faith (I John 5). In Jesus we already have victory over sin and death.
“Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Jesus Christ the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.” Romans 8:1-2
“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” Romans 8:37