by David P. Smith, M.D.
Consider the following Scriptures that talk of overcoming.
"He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God" (Revelation 2:7).
"He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death" (Revelation 2:11).
"He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give some the hidden manna to eat. And I will give him a white stone, and the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it" (Revelation 2:17).
"And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations--�He shall rule them with a rod of iron; They shall be dashed to pieces like the potter�s vessels�--as I also have received from My Father; and I will give him the morning star" (Revelation 2:26-28).
"He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels" (Revelation 3:5).
"He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name" (Revelation 3:12).
"To him who overcomes, I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne" (Revelation 3:21).
If you put an imitation diamond under water with a real diamond, the difference in brilliance and sparkling is easily seen. Many people are confident of their faith so long as they have no trials, but when the rising waters of sorrow overflow them, their faith loses all its brilliancy. The true servants of God shine forth as genuine jewels of the King even under stress and duress. A musician strains his strings, yet he breaks none of them with the production of a beautiful melody. God, through affliction, makes His children more like Him. In the time of Jesus the mount of transfiguration was on the way to the cross. The cross is on the way to the mount of transfiguration for us. To make it to the mountain, you must consent to pass over the road to it. Charles Spurgeon wrote, "Trials teach us what we are." Many of us find life hard and full of pain. The world uses us rudely and roughly. We suffer wrongs and injuries. Other people�s clumsy feet tread upon our tender spirits. We cannot avoid these things, but we should not allow the harsh experiences to deaden our sensibilities, or make us stoical or sour. The true problem of living is to keep our hearts sweet and gentle in the hardest conditions and experiences. If you remove the snow from the hillside in the late winter, you will find sweet flowers growing there, beneath the cold drifts, unhurt by the storm and by the snowy blankets that have covered them. We can keep our hearts tender and sensitive beneath life�s fiercest storms and through the longest years of suffering and even of injustice and wrong treatment. That is what is true, victorious living.
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