Victory Over The Darkness by Neil T. Anderson comes down to a pretty simple point that is vital for every Christ-follower to grasp. My identity is in Christ. 

Sounds simple enough right? In the apostle Paul’s second letter to the church in Corinth we read the truth that in Christ we are a new creation. The old is gone and the new has come. Our past mistakes, experiences, hang-ups, habits, are all surrendered to Christ. 

So why do we still get hung up in the darkness? Why do we still struggle and wrestle with those past mistakes, experiences, hang-ups, habits? Why is it so hard for us to forgive those who have hurt us? Why do we try to look for our purpose and identity in life in the things we do or the things we own? 

I think it’s because we don’t take God at His word. We don’t really believe we’re made new. We don’t wrap our identity up in Jesus. We instead “trade the Creator for His creation”. We trade “the truth of God for a lie”. 

Discovering who we are in Christ is a process. It’s a beautiful messy process. The positional truth of who are are in Chris is real truth and it is the only basis for the progressive sanctification that follows. Just as the past reality of salvation is the basis for the present-tense working out our salvation, so is our postion in Christ the basis for our growth in Christ. In other words, we are not trying to become children of God; we are already children of God who are becoming like Christ. 

Yet that process of becoming like Christ is hard. Victory Over The Darkness gives us some practical “steps” to take to help us overcome our old selves and become more like Jesus. It’s only through this process that we can truly live “fully alive”. 

Anderson describes the life of a believer who is allowing: rejection, rebellion, anger, unforgiveness, and bitterness to be their “roots” as someone with a “barren life”. On the other side of that someone who has the “roots” of: a true belief system, submission to Christ, forgiveness, acceptance, and freedom, will have a fruitful life in Christ. 

Victory Over The Darkeness is about recognizing that we are made new, that our identity is in Jesus and that we are free.  

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