More Than Conquerors

I love me some Romans 8. It is by far my favorite section of the Bible and it has brought me so much joy, peace and comfort through so many different situations. It is tattooed on my heart and runs through my brain all the time. One section that I have been meditating on lately is the verse 37. Let me give the verse in it's context:

Romans 8:31-37

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.

We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. How can one be MORE than a conqueror. A conqueror is one who is victorious, who defeats his or her enemy. But how is one more than that. In the verses preceding 37 Paul lists various trials, tribulations and hardships that Christians will face. The beauty here is that not only will these be defeated and conquered but there is more. In Christ we are more than conquerors because those trials and tribulations are not only defeated but they actually serve us. They strengthen our faith. They grow our love for Jesus. They increase our holiness. Those trials, though painful and often difficult, are actually working for us like captured prisoners or slaves of war! God uses those circumstances and trials to make us more like His Son. God bends even our own sin and foolish decisions in on themselves and uses them for our good, to teach us and to increase our love and appreciation of His grace and mercy. So as the trials and tribulations come let us remind ourselves that through Christ we are more than conquerors and these afflictions are actually serving us and conforming us to the image of our wonderful savior.