OvercomeMy parents still live in the house where they raised my brother and me. When we moved onto Dianne Street, I was eight and my brother was just five. That was 46 years ago.

Every time I make the four-hour drive to visit mom and dad – particularly these last few years – I am keenly aware of the passage of time and the toll this physical life takes on physical things.

For instance, just a few days ago, when I was there for a visit, I noticed the mailbox. I mean really took note of it. It’s the same mailbox they’ve had for decades. The same one I mowed down with my mother’s Lincoln when I was a young driver. Even then, Dad didn’t replace the box; he just replaced the narrow iron post with something a bit sturdier.

Today, that mailbox bears the wounds of standing unprotected for decades at the end of the driveway in all kinds of weather. Although the numbers, 6-4-1-3, still bravely cling to the side, rust dominates the exterior and the lid doesn’t quite close all the way.

Of course my parents have aged as well. Combined, they bear the marks of more than 150 years of living. Joy and grief. Success and failure. Fullness and loss. Just like anyone who lives in this world for very long. And today, they both struggle with physical ailments that only new bodies can fix.

Every visit home is bittersweet. I love spending time with my parents, but I wish I could really make things better. Or turn back the clock.

Today God reminds me that none of this takes Him by surprise. He well knows the effects this broken world has on His children. Sin has subjected this physical world and all that live on it to decay. We all groan inwardly while we eagerly wait for the fulfillment of God’s promises to His children (Romans 8:20-25).

We could replace the rusty mailbox with a new one, but it would rust again. The world would still get the last word.

But, praise God, the world does not get the last word in my parents’ lives. Or my life. The world does not have to have the last word in your life.

God gets the last word. The victory will be and is His. Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Son of God, everyone born of God (1 John 5:4-5)! We are overcomers!

Are you an overcomer? Have you been born again by the Spirit of God? If not, why not today?

Want to be an overcomer? Find out more about a saving relationship with Jesus?

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