I wept when I listened.
I hadn’t heard it in a very long time. My wife doesn’t really like the song. I used to act it out. When I was in high school. Just last week I heard it and I wept.
On the one hand, I was sad because the writer of the song had just died. Carman was was a gifted musician who loved Jesus. I didn’t like all of his music but I LOVE the song called, “The Champion.”
Here’s the lyric that caused so much emotion.
He has won!
He has won!
He's alive forevermore!
He is risen, He is Lord
He has won!
Even as I was preparing to write this and simply READING the lyric, my emotions were stirred.
Why? Because I so often feel defeated.
When my five year somehow turns me into the bad guy and won’t talk to me.
When my older boys are watching you tube videos AGAIN – instead of paying attention to zoom class.
When it takes 10 minutes (SLIGHT exaggeration!) to get the last bit of barbecue sauce out of the bottle.
When I can’t figure out what I’m supposed to say on Sunday.
All of these little moments and so many more add up to defeat. A general sense of defeat in my heart and life.
He has won!
He has won!
He's alive forevermore!
He is risen, He is Lord
He has won!
These lyrics also stir my emotion because they remind me of my sin (unfortunately). I am so often living FOR victory. Trying my best to perform. To do everything just right. To get it right. I live FOR victory and every minute, every decision counts. God created me with a battle to fight and I need to win that battle! (Yikes! How is that for too much competition.)
He has won!
He has won!
He's alive forevermore!
He is risen, He is Lord
He has won!
Can I give you one more reason? These lyrics stir a passion and a hope in me like nothing else can. It’s the power of the resurrection. In the song Satan and Jesu are in a fatal boxing much. Literally a fight to the death. God the Father is the referee who will pronounce a winner.
Satan has struck a fatal blow and Jesus fell to the ground dead. God the Father turns his head and then begins the ten count of defeat. 10…9…8… Satan goes crazy because God is counting wrong. The judge is supposed to count 1…2…3..
But God counts 10…9….8… because ultimately Jesus has won. He has won. He is alive forevermore. He is risen! He is Lord!
So many moment in my life feel like that moment of the song. Defeated. Everything going wrong. Victory (of any kind, large or small) seems impossible.
The resurrection changes all of that.
I have hope in the worst, hopeless situations.
Now I can live FROM victory, his victory (instead of fighting and clawing FOR it)!
All those little moments, even added up, will never be greater than his gigantic victory!
He HAS won!
“Take heart, I have overcome the world!” – Jesus, THE champion (John 16:33)