Devotional: Automatic Winners

Automatic Winners

Did you know casinos are built for losers, not winners? Think about it. Casino owners make their money from those who gamble and lose. Even if someone wins a large sum of money, most greedily play again thinking they can win more only to ultimately lose what they gained.
So in essence, those who play the casino, view themselves as losers. They wouldn't say that if you asked them directly, but isn't it true? They are there in hopes of "becoming" a winner. Deep down in their subconscience, they have a loser-identity that wants to change. So masked behind the so-called fun of playing and winning a game for a prize, they participate, never realizing the full impact of hidden motives.

Money won't change a person's identity. Money will only enhance a person's identity by revealing their true strengths and weaknesses. Who we are when we're poor is who we will be when we are rich - only magnified. My point is that our identity must never be found in things such as wealth, status, income, job title, race, gender, or anything else other than Christ Jesus.

In Paul's letter to Philemon, he wrote, "[And I pray] that the participation in and sharing of your faith may produce and promote full recognition and appreciation and understanding and precise knowledge of every good [thing] that is ours in [our identification with] Christ Jesus [and unto His glory]" (Philemon 1:6, Amplified). In other words, Paul prayed that Philemon would have a complete knowledge of every blessing we have in Christ.

This makes me think of someone who works for a company with high security. The employees are given identification cards that enable them to have access to areas the common public does not. And the higher the rank in employment, the more access the employee has. Suppose this company hires a new CEO, one who has never worked for them before. This CEO would have the highest rank and access of anyone else in the company. But even he would need to be educated and informed of all the places and privileges his identification card allows. This is true of believers in Christ. Through Jesus, we have been given the highest privileges of heaven. But without proper education and introduction of these privileges, we wouldn't take advantage of such.

Even in the casino example, when a person wins big they are escorted through security to another room. In this room, there is a banquet table covered with the finest food and drinks available. The casino manager informs them he has upgraded their room to a suite on the highest floor. He then gives them a tour of other back rooms they now have access to because of their status as a winner. And as long as they maintain that status, they have an all-access pass to any and everything they need.

But why gamble at the casinos when we are already winners in Christ Jesus? The fine print on our ID says so. "...Everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life" (1 Corinthians 15:22, New Living Translation). This new life upgrades everything! We just need a tour of what we now have in Christ.

IN HIM, we "...are justified and made upright and in right standing with God, freely and gratuitously by His grace (His unmerited favor and mercy)" (Romans 3:24, Amplified).

IN HIM, we have "...the [bountiful] free gift of eternal life" (Romans 6:23, Amplified).

IN HIM, "God liberally supplies (fills to the full) your every [natural and physical] need according to His riches in glory" (Philippians 4:19, Amplified).

IN HIM, we "...can no longer be condemned" (Romans 8:1, God's Word Translation).

IN HIM, we've "...been set free from the law of sin and death" (Romans 8:2).

IN HIM, we have "...wisdom from God - which is righteousness and sanctification and redemption" (1 Corinthians 1:30).

IN HIM, "...the old life is gone; [and] a new life has begun!" (2 Corinthians 5:17, New Living).

IN HIM, we have "...every spiritual blessing that heaven has to offer" (Ephesians 1:3, God's Word).

IN HIM, we have "...joint seating [with Jesus] in heaven..." (Ephesians 2:6, Amplified).

IN HIM, we have "...everything that pertains to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue" (2 Peter 1:3).

And IN HIM, we keep winning! "Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place" (2 Corinthians 2:14).

We are not losers. We have a new identity. Regardless of the labels the world has given you (such as widowed, divorced, abused, abandoned, alcoholic, drug-user, black, white, hispanic, old, young, or any other label), our new life in Christ makes us AUTOMATIC WINNERS - nothing else! "Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 15:57). So check your ID. You are more than you thought you were and you have access to more than you could ever imagine!