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……
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