Episode 285: I’m Talkin. . .Triumphant

I’m talking episode 285 for October 1st, 2023.

This is Joel from the I’m Talking microcast, where I share my thoughts on a topic that has piqued my interest this past week.

This week we’re talking triumphant.

Triumphant is not a complicated word.

The dictionary definition just says victorious, and that really says it all.

It talks about being on top, being the winner, being declared victorious.

I was wondering if we even use the word triumphant anymore, but I think sometimes we do when we’re trying to think of a word that’s not victorious, to try to come up with a different way to say that we are the winners.

Sometimes we say things like, you know, we were triumphant in that, whatever it is we were trying to accomplish.

One way we might hear it is in a triumphant shout.

It’s kind of the joy of victory.

And looking at kind of the word picture of triumphant, it’s celebration.

It’s a lot of maybe self-congratulatory.

It’s jumping around.

It could be with a team.

It could be, you know, kind of beating your breast.

It just is a loud, commotion-filled, joyous, look at me, I’m the best kind of word.

Therein lies the challenge for those of us who call ourselves Christians, because as Christians, we know what it means to be triumphant.

We know what Christ did for us on the cross, and we know who the winner is.

And yet we have to approach that with a humility.

And the cool thing is that we know Christ is coming back, and that he will be ultimately triumphant, but we don’t have to wait for that event.

We can live because Christ is triumphant now.

It may not look like the endgame.

It may not look like the future, but we know that he is triumphant.

We know that we can be triumphant as well, but it’s a totally different way to look at it.

We have to be triumphant with humility.

We have to be Christ-like.

We think of Christ riding into Jerusalem, and we call it the triumphant entry.

And yet hours later, those same people, at least some of those same people, are saying, crucify him.

And how does a triumphant entry end up with death on a cross?

That doesn’t fit the word picture that I mentioned before.

The only way that it makes sense is to be triumphant in humility, and that sounds like an oxymoron.

We have an example in Jesus Christ that we can follow.

We live a triumphant life.

We are looking forward to the triumphant shout, the trumpet sound.

We will have that raucous moment, potentially, whether we are with him in heaven, whether we are here on earth.

Our vantage point makes no difference.

We will see triumph.

And in that triumphant entry, we will see Christ reign.

But at the same time, it’s not a look at me, here I am kind of entry.

It’s still in humility with great power.

And if we can learn to channel that, to be like the man Jesus Christ, to be willing to die for who and what we believe, to be willing to put others first, and in that, see triumphant happenings around us, it’s even hard to put into words.

But that is our challenge, and that is what we are asked to do, to be triumphant, and yet to not beat our chest, but to practice humility and be Christ-like.

Until next week, this is Joel from the I’m Talking Microcast.