Defense or Offense
In sports, defense and offense describe two different roles a team plays:
Offense is when a team is trying to score points. The focus is on advancing the ball, creating opportunities, and attacking the opponent's goal, basket, or end zone.
Defense is when a team is trying to prevent the other team from scoring. The focus is on protecting territory, blocking plays, and stopping the opponent's advance.
From a biblical worldview, offense and defense can be used as a simple picture of the spiritual battle between good and evil:
Offense is actively advancing God’s truth and will in the world. It includes living faithfully, speaking truth, loving others, and sharing the gospel. It’s moving forward in obedience to what God calls people to do.
Defense is standing firm against lies, temptation, and spiritual attack. It involves resisting sin, holding to truth, and guarding your mind and heart against deception and discouragement.
From a biblical mental health framework, living in a “defense mode" can often lead to an increase in anxiety and fear, which then can turn into pure exhaustion. Wouldn't the enemy love it if everything felt like a threat? Surely, this is one tactic to keep Christians from reflecting Christ. If the devil can convince us that God and evil are still in a kind of equal competition, then we remain in the battle and don't move forward in our actions. But as Christians, we can know that the resurrection has already settled the score and that is the enemy defeated.
Most games require both, but how a team understands the score changes how we play.
At times, Christians (myself included) have lived constantly on defense by reacting to culture or any personal attack. It’s quite natural to defend yourself, your beliefs, your actions. However it often end in a battle because the other person is also often defensive. Today, what I think many Christians (myself included) are learning to do is to play offense more than we play defense. Playing offense from a place of the victory that has already been secured in Christ almost always brings forth more success. Why? I believe it is because we surrender and let God handle the outcome. And, in fact, its true, we (as Christians) cannot really lose. We win when we are obedient to Christ and trust the results to him (see my blog on The Fear of Doing).
Changing our mindset can change the game. When we know that victory rests on God and not ourselves, we can get out of the way so to speak. And when we do, the plan is often so much better than we could ever do. We must remember that victory is anchored on the resurrection of Christ, . This doesn’t mean everything goes our way and our life is free of problems or struggles. But it does mean that evil has been defeated, even though its final removal is still in the future. God uses every circumstance, whether we can see it or not. We can trust in who He is, and His goodness for things that we cannot see as victory. We can praise Him for the things we do see and grow in our faith and obedience. That is the Christian walk.
J.P. Moreland has often emphasized that human beings are not merely physical systems reacting to stimuli but embodied souls with rational, spiritual, and emotional capacities. I agree. We need to realize that at times, our battle is not just physical but also spiritual. And our mindset, our worldview, can affect our mental, spiritual, and emotional health.
Our goal, then, is to live a biblically balanced picture in both offense and defense from a position of victory.
Defense would include resisting lies, temptation, and spiritual attacks (Ephesians 6:10–11).
Offense would be advancing truth, love, and the gospel into the world (Matthew 28:19–20).
Both grounded in the victory of Christ, which means:
God exists and is sovereign over reality.
Christ’s resurrection is a real historical victory over death (1 Corinthians 15:3–4, 20–22).
Evil is real but not ultimate.
Human life has meaning, purpose, and eternal direction.
As believers, we get to participate in a redeemed story already moving towards restoration.
“You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:32)
“In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” (Romans 8:37)
I forget who said it, but it’s true to say we do not fight for victory, but we fight FROM victory.
And that changes everything about how we live, think, love, and lead. May we all learn to pause, commune with God, petition our requests, rest under His guidance, and release control over outcomes. By doing this, we watch God be God and handle impossible situations with ease. He then gives us peace of mind and assurance of who He is which delights our spirit and soul.
References:
Moreland, J. P. (1997). Love your God with all your mind: The role of reason in the life of the soul. NavPress.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. (2001).
