Valiant Knight

In the most recently released set of Magic cards, there's a card called Valiant Knight. It's a 3/4 Human Knight for (3)W that has "Other Knights you control get +1/+1" and "(3)WW: Knights you control gain double strike until end of turn."


Don't worry; I don't expect you to understand any of that. It doesn't matter. I'm not sharing this card with you all for its mechanical attributes, impressive as they are in the right deck. The reason I'm telling you all about Valiant Knight is because of its flavor text: “Defeat is no reason for retreat. It is a sign we must redouble our efforts to win this fight.”

This may not always be tactically true in physical conflicts, but it is always true in spiritual conflicts, or at least in our conflict with sin. When we sin, that doesn't mean that we are failures or that we should give up. It means that we need to pray harder and fight harder for control of our own souls. Unlike physical battles, our spiritual battles are never hopeless. In physical fights, it makes some sense to retreat from foes that we have no chance of defeating. But we always have a chance of defeating our spiritual foe, and once we have made up our minds to defeat him, he has no chance of defeating us.

I am grateful that, because of the Atonement and power of Jesus Christ, we never have to retreat from or surrender to our spiritual enemy or the enemies within ourselves. We can defeat them. We can become strong and clean. We can "redouble our efforts" as many times as we need to, and we can win this fight. We will win it. I am thankful that God and the people who created that Magic card have reminded me to be a Valiant Knight and to never retreat, even when I am occasionally defeated. I'm grateful for this reminder to "redouble [my] efforts to win this fight." I pray to God that I will.