Page 5 - How to Be a Victorious Christian - eBook

Perspective and Objective

VICTORY, victory in Christ, is what the Christian life is all about. Victory over any
and every sin, every weakness, every failing, that is in the life.

But many Seventh-day Adventists are conscious that they are not having complete
victory in their lives. An informal survey recently conducted in one large Adventist
church revealed that a sizable majority of the members were unsure of their
relationship with Christ. This is not an indication of victory.

I have known defeat in my Christian life. Long years of defeat. By defeat I do not

mean temporary setbacks. I mean defeat, time and time again, in my struggle with
sin.

Briefly, my story is this: Baptized at 18, sincere in my desire to be a Christian,
nevertheless I soon discovered my pre baptism weaknesses were still plaguing me. In
spite of myself, I was weak in moral power, plagued by doubts, and under the control
of inherited and cultivated leanings to sin. Not sins as the world would count them,

perhaps, but sins as God and I knew them to be.

My spiritual life in academy was a teeter-totter one. Fall and spring Weeks of Prayer
frequently inspired me to holier living. But soon I would slip back to my old life of
doubt and defeat.

During World War II I joined the Royal Canadian Air Force and spent some two
years in England attached to a Canadian bomber squadron as a medic.

Following the war I went back to college; my goal, the ministry. In college I led a
fairly active life as a theology student. I preached sermons at the college and nearby
churches. I participated in public evangelistic meetings. I gave Bible studies.

Something Lacking

But there still was something lacking in my religious life.

Outwardly I was probably what a ministerial student was expected to be. Inwardly

there was an unlovely harem of feelings and attitudes-envy, jealousy, self-seeking,

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