Q: Are you saying then that we’re destined to live lives of spiritual defeat with only little respites along the way, and that’s as good as it gets?
A: Not at all! God’s goal for us is to be like Christ. At the moment, Jesus is triumphant and glorified at God’s right hand, and God’s guarantee to us is that we will someday share in this magnificent image. But when Jesus lived where we do, His life was not the glittering thing it is now. It was marked by weakness, suffering, and by a genuine and daily dependence on His Father in Heaven. Not even He could rise from the dead until He first died. The road to Glory runs through the Cross, both for the Lord Himself and all who want to be His disciples.
Q: What about the verses that say we are more than conquerors in Christ, that we can do all things through Him, etc.?
A: We believe the verses, of course, but the success and triumph they promise look a lot like failure and loss: ‘tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, sword, being killed all day long and accounted as sheep for the slaughter’. In this life God does not give us victory over these things: He gives us victory in and through them. Just as He did for His Son who learned obedience through the things He suffered.
Messy Christians 
There certainly are bad Christians and their behavior gives Christianity a black eye! I worked with 2 Christians who decieved and did everything in their power to get what they wanted no matter who it hurt, including me, my husband, my family, the business and customers. All in the guise of ‘just doing business’ We trusted those people even more because they were fellow Christians. They thought nothing of lieing, cheating, stealing and not even thinking of being Christ-like or moral. We have survived their terrible behavior but seeing their terrible behavior and then seeing them sing so sweetly in the choir the next day has turned us away from religion. They say ‘they are forgiven’ and walk away llike it never happened.
Dear Finally Free,
Your story is heart-wrenching. The question is: were they real Christians, just play-acting or totally deceived? So many today pay lip service to walking a aisle, signing a commitment card, raising a hand in the service, but then walk out the church the same sinner they were when they entered. Being a Christian means a changed life! I’m heartened to read God has moved you on from this experience. Martin Luther said that a Christian is both a sinner and a saint. We all have remaining sin in us and we can do some pretty awful things. But thanks be to God, we stand perfect in Christ! — Blessings, Rita