Gifted, Not Gritted
Grace is received, not achieved.
Devotional Credit: Charles G. Trumbull, Victory in Christ, Chapter Three, “Real and Counterfeit Victory.”
Photo Credit: Unsplash
Many of us were taught to chip away at sin little by little, as if victory were a garden we weed by hand. Trumbull reminds us that the New Testament speaks of victory as a gift, not a grind. He tells the story of believers who loved Jesus and served faithfully, yet lived under a quiet burden of trying harder. His message is simple and freeing. Real victory is received from Jesus, counterfeit victory is achieved by self-effort.
Reading Trumbull, I am grateful for the clarity he brings. He points to the words of Jesus about freedom and to the apostle Paul’s insistence that we are not under law but under grace. Victory is not the slow result of good behavior, it is the present fruit of union with the Son who lives in us. In other words, the Christian life is not you carrying Christ, it is Christ carrying you.
If you have taken the counterfeit without knowing it, you are not alone. Many of us tried to suppress bad feelings, to keep from “boiling over,” and called that victory. Trumbull says that is only concealment. Real victory is when the Spirit changes the want to, when irritation is displaced by His patience, when fear yields to His peace, when self-effort gives way to trust.
From our shared lens of grace and the corporate salvation of those in the Son, this gift is not reserved for a rare few. It belongs to all who are in Jesus, because it is His life expressed through His body. We grow for a lifetime, yes, but we do not grow into freedom from sin’s dominion. That freedom is given now in the risen Lord. Growth then becomes the joyful learning of how to walk in what we already have.
Journal Entry: Voice of the Holy Spirit Through Scripture
I dwell in you, and I am your freedom. The Son sets you free, and you are free indeed. You died with Jesus to the tyranny of sin, and you now live to God in Him. Sin will not rule you, for you are not under law that commands do, you are under grace that announces done. I supply what I command. I work in you to will and to do My good pleasure, and what I begin, I complete.
Your life is hidden with the Messiah in God. The same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you. I make you more than a conqueror, not by hardening your will, but by sharing His life. My grace is sufficient, for power is made perfect in weakness. Thanks be to God who gives you the victory through the Lord Jesus Christ. As you received the Anointed One, keep walking in Him, rooted and built up, trusting rather than trying.
Abide in the Vine, and you will bear fruit. Walk by Me, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. I have given you everything needed for life and godliness. I put My law within your heart, I give you a new heart and My Spirit within you, causing you to walk in My ways. There is now no condemnation for you in Christ Jesus, for the law of the Spirit of life has set you free from the law of sin and death. I am faithful, and I will surely do it.
Scripture references: John 8:34–36; Romans 6:6–7, 11, 14; Romans 8:1–4, 9–11, 37; Galatians 2:20; Galatians 5:16–25; Philippians 1:21; Philippians 2:13; 1 Corinthians 15:57; 2 Corinthians 12:9; Colossians 2:6–7; Colossians 3:3–4; Ephesians 2:8–10; 2 Peter 1:3; 1 Thessalonians 5:24; John 15:4–5; Titus 2:11–12; Jeremiah 31:33; Ezekiel 36:26–27; Hebrews 10:14; Hebrews 13:8; 1 John 5:4–5.
Real-Life Analogy
Think about unlocking your phone with Face ID. You are not wrestling the lock with brute force. The device recognizes who you are, the lock releases, and what was closed is now open. In the same way, victory opens as you rest in who you are in Jesus. The Spirit within recognizes the new you, united to the Son, and He supplies what the moment requires without white-knuckle striving.
A real moment to practice this might be when you are about to send a sharp email. Instead of pushing yourself to “be nicer,” pause and acknowledge your union with the living Lord. Then say, Lord, I trust You to express Your patience and clarity through my words in this moment. Send the message from that yielded place, letting the Spirit carry the tone and the timing.
Prayer of Confidence
Lord, thank You that in Jesus I have passed from death to life. Thank You that I am not under law, I am under grace, and sin does not have dominion over me. Thank You that Your Spirit lives in me, that the life I live is Christ in me, and that victory is Your gift to be received, not a trophy to be earned. I gladly rely on Your indwelling life today. I receive what You already provided, and I walk it out with a quiet heart. Amen.