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"In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us" (Romans 8:37).
Did "your team" win last night? Some are excited, others disappointed. That's the nature of competitive sports: the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat. In Friday's message I used a sports analogy and today I want to share another analogy using a concept shared by a reader in response to that message.
Worrying about anything in life is senseless. Try to think of it like this. Your team is in the Super Bowl, but you have to work, so you record the game intending to watch it later. But as you leave work an absolutely reliable source shares the news that your team won the game. You have no other details (thank goodness - what fun would that be?). You rush home to watch the game.
You quickly find yourself stressing out play-by-play. You mentally pause to remind yourself, MY TEAM WINS THIS GAME! You settle in and begin to truly enjoy the "journey", the game as a whole. Sure there will be fumbles and interceptions, unfair penalties, injuries and, chances are, your team will be down by points sometime in the game. But you already know for sure that MY TEAM WINS THIS GAME!
Life is like that. As God's redeemed children, we know for sure that OUR TEAM WINS THE GAME. May God give us grace not to stress out "play-by-play", worrying about finances, safety, loneliness, work, home, death, things people do to us, or anything else. God wants us to sit back and trust that He already won the game when He sent Jesus. He doesn't want us to just celebrate the victory after the game; He wants us to enjoy the whole thing in this life. Remember, Jesus came so that we "might have life, and that we might have it more abundantly"!
Let's examine a timeless truth from God's Word. "In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us." It's a great truth for every one of us. This absolutely reliable source informs us we win! Paul is writing to the Roman believers and here in chapter eight he comes to a crescendo in his thought. The context of "all these things" includes just about all that can go wrong in life, most of which we have never experienced (see below for the context).
Every word is rich with meaning and can be ponderously exegeted. But let's consider just the phrase "more than conquerors." This actually translates a single Greek word "hupernikomen." This word is linguistically known as a "hapax legomenon", a term used for words that occur only once in a body of literature (in this case the New Testament). In fact it's so rare that it's possible that Paul devised it to express his thought.
It is actually a combination of two more familiar words; "huper" from whence we get "hyper" and nikao from whence "Nike" gets its name. "Huper" literally means "over" but carries the sense of the superlative. "Nikao" is most often translated "overcome" and is found most frequently in Revelation. I like to compare translations and I suppose for this verse I'm most blessed by the rendering in the NASV which states "we overwhelmingly conquer." Now let that bless your soul today, fellow overcomer!
That is what we are, through Him who loves us, and today I urge you to drink deeply of this position we have in Christ and even in the midst of your present trial declare, "I am an overcomer!"
Hide this truth deep in your heart. Many struggle, but God's eternal Word declares that what really matters has already been taken care of. "We are (present tense) more than conquerors." Is Jesus Christ your Saviour and Lord today? Ultimately this is the only thing that matters in winning the one thing in life that really does matter.
Be encouraged today,
Stephen C. Weber
Brooksyne's Prayer: Father, I am so grateful that being a conqueror is not a title that I can earn by my own strategy or my position in life. I recognize that I am an overcomer solely because I am a Child of God. The battles I conquer and the ultimate victory I attain in my lifetime come wholly because of the blood of Jesus Christ. I am more than a conquerer through Jesus who loves me and gave Himself unreservedly for the remission of my sins. Thank you for the inexhaustible supply of Your grace, power, and provision for my salvation and my walk with You in the ensuing battles of daily life.
Friday's message: "Pressing Toward The Goal"
A reader named Ginger has given me her permission to share her illustration.
Romans 8:18-39 (context of today's passage)
Audio reading of Romans 8
Here's a powerful audio sample of a song titled "We Are More Than Conquerors" that expresses the truth in today's message.
Here's this musician's home page
Scripture references are from The Holy Bible: New International Version. © 1984 by International Bible Society; NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission; and the King James Version.
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