Living victoriously

One of my good friends from high school just had a beautiful baby and named her "Laura." We were taking about the meaning of her name, and we decided that basically it boiled down to the meaning of "victorious." We were talking about her brand-new daughter, but then I go to thinking that meaning also applies to me and all the other lovely Lauras out there.

So what does it mean to live victoriously?

By the world's dictionary, living victoriously probably means:

-Making lots of money
-Being successful
-Looking attractive
-Achieving your dreams
-Being well-liked
-Appearing confident
-Being right

Hmmm... something about that definition just doesn't seem aligned with the Bible... Then just about a day later, I opened up my devotional and read:

"You can achieve the victorious life through living in deep dependence on Christ. People usually associate victory with success: not falling or stumbling, not making mistakes. But those who are successful in their own strength tend to go their own way, forgetting about Jesus. It is through problems and failure, weakness and neediness that you learn to rely on the Lord."

So as a Christ-follower, we are victorious by:

-Depending on Him
-Being last and not first
-Admitting our shortcomings
-Confessing our sins
-Allowing Christ to transform us daily
-Calling on His power and strength

Thus, I realized that although I often feel like a failure in the world's eyes, I have actually been leading a victorious life-- all because of Christ. I have stumbled, fallen, and made mistakes. Yet Christ has the ultimate victory through the cross. How magnificent that we can share in that victory just by the fact that our identity is in Him!

That's all for now folks. I'm off to live my life as Laura the Victorious.