To overcome the world is indeed a remarkable victory, because the world has defeated so many members of our race. The idealism of youth convinces many in each new generation that they will be different – they will not succumb to the sins of their parents’ generation – but the world sets to work on them and soon they too have been defeated. They discover they have overestimated their own strength and failed to account for their own fallen hearts, and they too succumb to broken relationships, lack of integrity, greed, and self-centredness.
We cannot say we truly believe in Christ when we continue to listen to the same ungodly music, read the same unwholesome literature, enjoy the same immoral entertainment, and make the same life choices as we made before we believed.