Competing with KD
by Oliver Carlos
One of the innovations I made in my self-trainings was creating a dummy player that I can shoot against. I cut down a little malungay tree (Moringa olifeira) and used its trunk and branches to make my dummy. I dressed it up like Kevin Durant. I gave a name to my training buddy: K.D. Ningding. He’s called such because my family cooked diningding dish that day using the malungay leaves and fruits.
KD Ningding is more than 6 feet tall, and with his arms raised, his total height must be close to 8 feet. He’s the perfect opponent to train me in hoisting high-looping jump shots. With KD, I was also able to get used at shooting against an opponent right there on my face.
I loved competing versus KD, I knew I would always win against him. Always. I was not afraid of him, even though he was taller than me and his reach was so high. I was not intimidated by his NBA uniform, nor by his tiger-stare at me. I knew that I would always emerge as the victor in our every match-up.
This is the same lesson the Paul wanted to teach the Corinthians. The apostle wrote in I Corinthians 15:55–58 (NIV):
“Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? The sting of death is sin… But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you.”
When Jesus died on the cross and rose from the grave, he has conquered the power of sin. The power of sin includes death. What Paul is referring to here is not physical death, but spiritual death. The Bible talks about a spiritual death or second death, which is actually hell. For the wages of sin is this kind of death. Because Christ has triumphed over the power of sin, it also means that those who are in him will no longer go to hell. We have also triumphed over the second death.
Jesus has also given us victory over all the schemes of God’s enemy, the devil, to cause us to sin. We just have to believe and claim that truth- that we have power to win over temptations. We also have power to triumph over worries that cloud our vision. If we are one with Christ, then we have all the powers to crush all these negativities that the enemy uses to wear us down as we go thru our everyday lives.
The central part of the passage above says that “He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” As I always win when competing with my basketball dummy, you too, will always win in whatever spiritual battle you face. Always. And that’s because of Jesus who is living in you.
