Twin City church of Christ Blog
“Aug 16, 2024 - More than Conquerors”
Categories: 2024 Reading DevotionalsMore than Conquerors
Reading: Romans 8:31-40
We are in rarified air here. Paul steps back from his arguments and gapes in wonder at what all this means. “What shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?”(Rom 8:31). We were God’s enemies, but he has bridged that gap and we are now at peace. More than that, God is for us, actively seeking our good and receiving us as sons. “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?”(Rom 8:32). If he has already given us the greatest gift, how would he withhold anything that is for our good? Paul then takes us to the courtroom where the prosecuting attorney has instead exonerated us (Rom 8:33) and the judge is pleading our case for us (Rom 8:34). The very ones we should fear most are on our side! If God is for us, who can be against us?
Yet Paul remains well aware that these gifts do not eliminate trouble from everyday life. “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, ‘For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered’”(Rom 8:35-36). Paul himself regularly deals with these hardships, but he insists that Jesus’ love puts them in their proper context. The only true threat of these problems is that they might “separate us from the love of Christ,” which they are thankfully powerless to do. “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord”(Rom 8:37-39). Just as Jesus has overcome sin and death, so we will overcome these physical struggles with his help. He will love and bless us. No force on earth can stop it.
In Christ, we are “more than conquerors”—fully able to defeat the sufferings of life and persecutions of God’s enemies. Of course we can always choose to walk away from Jesus and the gifts he offers, but no power or circumstance can remove us from him. When the dust settles on all our pain, he will still love and bless us. No force on earth can stop it.
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One Thing to Think About: Do I struggle to believe that God is for me?
One Thing to Pray For: A deeper connection to the love of Christ
