31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who
can be against us? 32 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? 33 Who shall
bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to
condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is
at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate
us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or
famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written, "For your
sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be
slaughtered." 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors
through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels
nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 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. ~ Romans 8:31-39 (ESV)
I love this entire passage concerning God’s eternal love for us,
but today lets look at verse 37: “No, in all these things we are more than
conquerors through him who loved us.” What can we derive from this verse?
First, we are more than a sinner saved by grace. We are saints, no longer bound
as slaves by sin. Second, we are more than Satan’s adversary Christ has
overcome the enemy by His very blood and His Word and our testimony. We are no
longer just the man who helps out at home, we can now be the diligent father
and husband that replicates the love of our Father in Heaven. We are not just
mom who cooks, cleans and takes care of the family; we can be mothers who teach
our families how to love as Jesus loves us.
We can now be the impact on the young, modeling how to live a
faithful life, not just the teacher, Sunday school leader, or coach. We are
empowered to be part of a work environment that models Christ like characteristics
to our boss, coworkers and others we communicate with on a daily bases. No
longer are we a politician who just looks at issues but we can now be a person
of character who serves our community with prudence and wisdom. We can be these
things because God’s love and grace has made us more!
“Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we
ask or think, according to the power at work within us” (Ephesians 3:20, ESV).
Christ has brought us out of our past and all our mistakes and
sins and created us into a new creation! We have been granted a new start, (in
many cases multiple new starts) we must now take our pristine, bold,
unprecedented faith that God has bestowed upon us too the world proclaiming
that Christ is alive!
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.
The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17,
ESV)
Christ has taken all the old things upon Himself and has made all things
new! We are more than the consequence of bad choices and poor judgment. We are
priceless children of God who desires the love and wisdom of Abba our heavenly
Father so we can make better choices and live in His instruction. We no longer
have to be the product of that dysfunctional family; we can break free from the
cycle of disorder because Christ brought order by demonstrating His faith on
and through the cross.
Elohim created us to be
more that what people characterize us to be. There are things that have and
will happen the may cause us to stumble and regret but we must keep in our
heart that we are “more than conquerors” when we are in Christ. We know whose
we are, we must trust that we are where we are, and where we are going is in
His hands. We are proud servants of Christ serving in His campaign; we prepare
ourselves for His service as one who trains for combat. We, by the grace of God
are more, settling for nothing less than the best we can be for Christ all the
while remembering the less of us the more of Him!
19 "'I know your
works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your
latter works exceed the first. 20 But I have this against you, that
you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching
and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food
sacrificed to idols. 21 I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of
her sexual immorality. (Revelation 2:19-21, ESV).
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