Real Victory, by Casey Ferguson

Okay, confession: I’ve never been any good at video games. In my prime, even, which for me meant playing Sonic the Hedgehog 2 on my beloved Sega Genesis, I was nowhere near the top of my class. This probably gives you an idea of my level of skill when it comes to video games: the first time somebody mentioned to me the idea of ‘beating’ a video game, I was a little bit confused. “Who beats a video game?” I wondered. Just getting past level 4 or 5 was beyond me. I had no clue the game was actually beatable.

The other night I was playing Halo with my life group dudes, and over and over again I kept getting smoked. Eventually I just started wandering around lobbing grenades every few seconds, which taken out of context sounds like a mean thing to do. But seriously, this, in my mind, was the most likely way I was going to win. Which I never did.

The good news, though, is that despite the fact my character died (it’s not important how many times), I personally experienced no pain, outside that of my wounded ego.

The moment I agreed to jump on the controller and play soldier, I knew I was going to lose. But the consequences were so minimal that I wasn’t concerned. I had a very limited buy-in. The commitment needed for me to play Halo was  small.

That’s not the case with Christianity, though. Colossians 2:11-12 reads, ¹¹ In Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not done with hands, by putting off the body of flesh, in the circumcision of the Messiah. ¹² Having been buried with Him in baptism, you were also raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.

The “in Him” Paul is talking about here is Jesus Christ, the Messiah. When we sign up for Christianity we’re doing so much more than simply repeating a prayer or quoting something vaguely spiritual, making us feel better about ourselves. We’re making a commitment, and a strong one at that.

Paul says that if we commit to this Christian life and theology, what we’re doing is undergoing a circumcision. In other words, a permanent change, one that changes our identity to the world. This isn’t a surface level commitment Paul is talking about. It’s deep, and it hurts at first.

Paul then mentions being “buried” with Christ. This implies death. Just as Christ died for our sins, when we are baptized (another sign of a commitment) we die to our old nature. Our sin nature. Scary yet? Well, stay with me, because the best is yet to come. The verse goes on to tell us we are “also raised with Him, through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.” There’s hope, see?

Playing Halo, getting lit up in Halo, I feel no pain. In the same way, someone who conquers Halo, someone who achieves victory in the game, they don’t achieve real victory. Perhaps they feel proud for beating the game, but they are by no means a victorious soldier solely based on the game.

Committing to Christ commits us to a certain level of pain. Real pain. The buy-in is much greater here, and it comes with the cost of a changed identity, with the potential of leaving a scar. But the victory is real too. In the end we are raised with Christ, and his win is our win. We’re not just riding the couch, disconnected from the battle, but we’re in the fight with Him. And one day we will be victorious!