Through Christ, you can be more than a conqueror over anxiety, discouragement, fears of the future, or depression. It’s a good lesson to remember during Disability Awareness Month. Even if you don’t have a disability, Romans 8:37 is a good lesson for you today, too.
Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada with a victory story.
My husband Ken is quite the fan of the University of Southern California, but he will never forget the humiliating defeat of his school by Stanford back in 2009. I mean, the guy still talks about it. In the 2009 football season, Stanford handed USC its worst defeat ever. Stanford won the game by 33 points; the score was 55–21, and the startling thing is, USC came into the game an 11-point favorite!
Now, I hope Ken’s not listening to all this, as he would not like me casting a bad light on his school. But I think all of this is a great illustration of Romans 8:37 where it says, “We are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” Okay, so, you know that to conquer is to be victorious over an opponent, right? But to be “more than a conqueror” means you not only achieve victory, but you are overwhelmingly victorious. Like, it’s no contest. You’ve blown your adversary out of the water. Like Stanford beating USC by 33 points when USC was supposed to be the favorite, right? Or, better yet, let’s say if the final score of a basketball game is 142–6, you know that the opposition may have put up a good fight, but they were hands-down, irrefutably no match for the victors. The win was beyond the scope of a regular victory. And friend, that is what it means to be “more than a conqueror through Christ who loved us.” Because Satan is our opponent, right? Who, indeed, puts up a good fight. He sends all kinds of life-defeating, joy-stealing attacks to threaten the well-being and the faith of God’s people. But through Jesus Christ, it’s no contest when it comes to achieving victory over the devil. Through Christ, we can be overwhelmingly victorious. And this is what it means to be more than a conqueror.
And if you need more evidence of God’s victorious power, just look at the Old Testament. I mean, humanly speaking, God’s people were no match for their enemies. But time and again, God told them not to be afraid; that he would fight for them. And time and again, the Lord brought about astounding, almost not-to-be-believed victories. God made his people more than conquerors, but the victory was always gained through the Lord. And that’s what we need to remember. That’s the important point that we often forget. We are only more than a conqueror through Christ who loved us. And we would do well to remember it because, left to ourselves, we are absolutely no match against Satan. He is more clever, he is more intelligent, more deceptive, and more powerful than we can possibly imagine. But not more powerful than Jesus Christ. When we are in him; when we can say with Galatians, “It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me,” then we are more than a conqueror because we are doing it through him who loves us.
It’s an important lesson for disabled people we serve at Joni and Friends. Sometimes when there’s a tough disability in a family, it’s hard to imagine yourself as a conqueror over anxiety, or discouragement, or fears of the future, or depression. But at our ministry we encourage families to remember Romans 8:37. You don’t have to live under the oppression of fears of the future. Through Christ, you can be more than a conqueror over those things. It’s a good lesson to remember on this Disability Awareness Month. And even if you don’t have a disability, Romans 8:37 is a good lesson for you today.
© Joni and Friends