Victory Requires a Payment

Have you ever run in a race or prepared for a marathon?  Or do you play a sport?  I’m sure you have come to understand that in order for there to be victory, there is a payment required. 

Payment may be hard work, dedication, practice and the list goes on.  But the same is true for us in our journey through life as a believer.  Victory requires payment, just as Christ’s death on the cross illustrates.

Think about the victory that we received when Jesus gave His life.  But then think about the fact that there was a payment for our salvation.  The payment was His death.  In order for us to receive life, death first had to happen.

It is a continuing theme as we grow in Christ.  If we want to see our life in Christ all that it is meant to be, there is a payment.  It may mean giving up things of our past, sacrificing our time, surrendering a situation, seeking God daily…there are so many ways we “pay” for our victory.

But the reality is that many of us don’t want to give a payment.  It hurts to give something up.  When we work hard all week to earn a paycheck and we see it quickly disappear to pay bills that hurts.  But the reward is that we avoid debt, have good standing with our creditors, live in a home, are kept warm with heat and so forth.

If you really want to see victory in your life, think about the payment you have been holding back on.  When you do that, you put yourself into spiritual debt.  You miss out on the blessing of living in freedom.  You are actually imprisoned by your lack of payment.

What if Christ didn’t make the payment?  There would be no victory of eternal life.  So the next time it seems difficult to give something up, remember that victory requires a payment.