More Than Conquers

"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?...No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 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" (Rom 8:35-39).

So what?  What does itt mean to us that we are more than conquers?  Does it mean that we will live on easy street, that the righteous will have no struggles, no losses, no pain or sorrow?  I know that is the impression of some and the message of many televangelists, who insist that we should live in prosperity, free from sickness and sorrow, if only we'd faithfully support their TV ministry...

The Bible, however, does not suggest or support that notion.  In the passage above, the verse I did not include (36), gives us the answer to that question: "As it is written: 'For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered."  What do you think - if the apostles faced life as sheep to be slaughtered for their faith, should we expect to skip along in life with rose petals falling on our heads as rainbows dance above us?  Not!

This isn't heaven, this is planet earth, the fallen world.  Here we must live behind enemy lines, here we must live among the unrighteous, here we must even die with those who know not the Lord.  We must endure the same circumstance as those who have fallen into enemy hands.  The rain falls on the righteous and the unrighteous.  The recession impacts the faithful and the faithless.  We all age, we all experience loss, we all die.

So how is it different for the righteous?  Listen to the prophet Habakkuk: "Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, thoght the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the sttalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.  The Sovereign Lord is my strength..." (3:17-19).  As conquers, we overcome.  By God's power, we gain the victory.  But there is no overcoming if there is no struggle, no conquering when there is no enemy.  God doesn't take us around, over or under the fray; God takes us through it.  Yes, we struggle.  But we win and that knowledge gives us reason to rejoice always.

Beyond that, as more than conquerors, we don't just overcome the enemy, we set the prisoners free.  By our faithful and joyful living among those captured by the Enemy, those fallen in the fray, we lift them up by sharing "the reason for hope that we have to all who ask us" (1 Pet 3:15).  Jus' Sayn.