More Than Conquerors

More than Conquerors........                                           

This phrase somehow surfaced from my memory this past week.  I cannot say why or how.  It was not during a particularly dark, difficult time.  

You know those times, when you are going through a rough patch and you start searching through your Bible for a lifeline or a foothold.  You probably have passages marked just for that.  Those verses that give consolation and encouragement.  But for me, that was not the case.  Not this time.  The words more less just appeared and they kept repeating themselves in my head, through several days.  So much so, they got my attention.

We live more or less in a society of winners and losers.  Of haves and have nots.  Not much different from the centuries before us.  Conquerers and, I guess you would call, conquerees?  In studying the passage in Romans 8, where this came from, I found it nestled among some of my favorite verses. 

³⁵ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?....... ³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,^[k] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

If you took it at face value, this phrase - this “more than conquerors” was rather perplexing.  If you conquered something  - it was done.  Whether that be a problem, a habit, or even a people, you win.  And if you won, something or someone lost.  But what did it mean to be “more than a conqueror”.  I checked other translations and definitions.  I found words such as “overwhelming ” or “surpassing” tied to words like "victory" and "vanquish".  I guess in other terms, it would mean a 77-0 win such as in a football game - a landslide overtaking of one's opponent.  It brought to mind the feeling of no questions asked or no doubts who the winner was. 

I realized that in my life, I have faced various trials personally and more often weathered various tragedies a very close third person.  As such, I have either personally had or witnessed this type of victory in the lives of others.  Not always a victory over the physical world, but definitely a triumph in the spiritual world.  Love over hate - holding the hand of a friend at the trial of her husband's murderer.  A trial, where in her vicitim's statement, she forgave him, hoping for his salvation so that he might meet his victim in heaven one day.  Eternal wholeness over the temporal disease of cancer, as a friend was slowly dying.  Standing by the bedside of my husband as God brought him from the brink of death, back to the land of the living.  Hearing time and again, the testimonies of my church family.  Overwhelming stories of forgiveness  conquering hate.  Redemption cleansing life’s stains.  Of the very  life of Christ breathed into situations of hopelessness and despair.

More than conquerors.

Yes, Brothers and Sisters, we are……

Judge?

For in the way you judge, you will be judged 
and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.....
                                           Matthew 7:2


Scripture has to be the most fascinating thing in the world.   I mean really!   It changes with you - no matter where you are in your faith walk, it walks with you....  


You are this prim and proper little legalist and in this brief passage, the only words that pop out at you are judge, standard, measure.   Good God, it is about time You asked for my help!


Then someone gets in your faith, I mean face, and asks you who made you judge and jury.   And then you realize, that is not a law degree hanging on your thelogical wall.   Once that gets through your thick skull, you realize Jesus was not giving you the right to judge.  In fact,  bluntly, you really don't know what right means.  You are clueless and you want to know.  


And the journey begins.  You are relentless.   In fact you are fanatical in your pursuit of this knowledge.   First you dissect the words themselves - you study verb tenses and the Greek.  Next to the context - the history of the times, nuances of the language, even the sardonic wit of the culture.   You peruse Augustine and Wesley.  You throw in a little Barth and Nouwen, for good measure, no pun intended.  And you realize, though a little wiser, you are not much closer to knowing what He means. What does he want me to do?


And, in a moment of weakness, an epiphany, it comes to you.  What if this is not all about me.  Am I my brother's keeper?  Though ill-used, that was a pretty good question.  And slowly but surely, the glass clears, just a bit,.  You realize that judge is another word for unjust condemnation.   Measure is a heinous label used to keep folks where we want them.  And
standard is just an edict of my narrow-minded perception.   Wow!  


But wait there is more.  Just when you are settling into your "I've got this all figured out" chair, you realize it is not all about the other guy.  It is about you!  What is up with this!   I have just turned to the next chapter.  But no, it can't be left alone.   It can't stop with you, fellow guy, because it is also about what being judge, jury, and executioner does to me.  It shrivels the heart, impairs the sight, and muffles the voices of humanity.   And you don't even want to think of what a small heart, blindness, and deafness does to your relationship with God.    


Because, you come up lacking.  You are judged, my friend, and the verdict is - EMPTY.  And in the bounty and extravagance of His grace, you want your cup open and waiting.  Heck, you want to trade in that cup for a bucket, make that a barrel.    


So what comes first the chicken or the egg?  Does my judgemental spirit spill over from my criticism of my fellow man to myself?  Or does the belittling of myself splash onto my fellow man?  Or is it just a vicious cycle, each adding kindling to the other?  LIke two wolves in a circle chasing each others' tails, until they are a blur


How to stop the madness?  Maybe it is to realize His heart grieves with my dilemma and though I may be helpless, He is not.  


 Ah, as always, my first step.  Admission of my ignorance and helplessness. 


Second step - STOP the voices......Negativity has met its match (I hope)


Thanks be to God!