More than Conquerors

by Maurice Pujol
Published April 20, 2006

If you were to be sent into lifelong exile on a remote island and were allowed to take only one book with you, which would you choose?

Most believers would quickly answer, “My Bible,” and rightly so. The Bible is God’s Living Word, an endless fountain of wisdom and revelation, no matter how many times one reads it.

In fact, one of the keys to successful Christian living is a daily dose of the Word. Along with daily prayer and regular worship with other believers, a lifetime of reading the Bible turns baby Christians into mature believers in every instance, without fail. Those who don’t move forward in their spiritual lives are guilty of ignoring one, or all, of these practices.

Getting back to our original question, what if you were told you couldn’t take the entire Bible with you in your exile, but only one of its books? Which would you choose?

A great choice would be Paul’s letter to the Christians at Rome, the Book of Romans. It contains all the Christian doctrine you’ll ever need (Chapters 1-8), and it has the practical advice for living a Christian life (Chapters 12-16). As an added bonus, it outlines God’s dealings with Israel (Chapters 9-11) and its future when it recognizes Messiah.

Perhaps it’s such a masterful piece of writing because Paul had a lot of time to put into it. Scholars say he wrote it during the winter of the year 57 into the beginning of 58, as he stayed in Corinth waiting for the spring, so he could sail to Jerusalem.

The eighth chapter concludes the doctrinal section of the letter and contains some of the most important declarations in Scripture:

• There is no condemnation to those who are “in Christ Jesus,” believers who live according to the Spirit (8:1).

• Believers are truly and literally children of God and joint-heirs with Jesus (8:14-17).

• The Holy Spirit is our constant Helper and prays on our behalf, even when we don’t know what to say (8:26-27).

• God bring about good results in the lives of believers, even though bad things may happen along the way (8:28).

• No matter what happens in this life, believers have all the power of God on their side, so they can be “more than conquerors” (8:37).

Of course, these declarations are my paraphrases of what Paul wrote, but I did retain his original meaning. It’s one thing to agree with these statements, but it’s quite another thing to embrace them as daily realities in your walk with the Lord.

This state of realization, this place of rest with these central truths of Scripture, should be the goal of every believer. These bring about the joy unspeakable and peace that passes all understanding cited by the Apostle Peter.

Christians who live under condemnation remain spiritually handicapped and don’t fully carry out God’s plan for their lives. When Jesus saves us and snatches us from the jaws of death, we are expected to become witnesses of God’s grace, His healing power and His perfect love. Those who live burdened with the guilt of past sins, already covered by the blood of Jesus, cannot break free to be effective witnesses. Paul reminds believers that these sins have been blotted out in God’s eyes and retaining memories of them serves no purpose other than to hinder us in our Christian walks.

In fact, everything Paul says in these magnificent passages of Scripture leads up to the key phrase “more than conquerors.” Believers are children of the King, join-heirs with Christ, and shouldn’t limit their outlook in this life to just “getting by” or “surviving.” We are called not just to win the battle, just to fight the good fight, but to prevail before all eyes as true spiritual champions.

We are title winners, trophy earners, crown getters and shining lights in a dark world. Never forget these truths, and never lose sight of God’s plan for us.

Also remember, Jesus gets all the glory for this, not us. When we do get to see Him as He is, we will do the most joyous things we have ever done as we lay our crowns and trophies at His feet and hear those long-awaited words, “Well done, you good and faithful servant.”

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