In all these things . . .

My uncle Edward was one of those story tellers who offered a hook so you wanted to hear the story, but then took you on a convoluted journey down many rabbit trails until he finally fleshed out the story and finished with the punch line. Sometimes the Apostle Paul reminds me of Edward.

For instance, today’s devotional reading is based on a verse that says, “In all these things we are more than conquerors. . . .” so my first thought is, “All what things?” Where does Paul’s thinking begin? I had to go back two chapters to find some clues.

His hook could be this statement: “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). Since this is the gospel in a nutshell, and certainly a hook, I’m going to consider this as one of “these things” and trace through to the punch line.

First, those who have accepted the “free gift” know that sin still happens. This hook raises a question: As a Christian, do I still earn sin’s wages?

Paul struggled with that too. In the next chapter, he describes how he did what he didn’t want to do, and didn’t do what he wanted. Could this be one of “these things” that he lumps into his punch line? At the end of the chapter he hints at it.

Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. (Romans 7:24–25)

Is one of “these things” conquered this dilemma of having a Savior and still having sin? Paul knows that he is delivered, but also knows that in this life sin will always reside in his flesh. How then is he delivered? The answer immediately follows these verses,

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:1)

It is not that Paul still sins (or that I still sin) that makes him a conqueror, but that because of Jesus, there is no condemnation from God. All the condemnation that sin deserves was put on Christ. He sets His people free from the wrath of God against sin.

However, the flesh does remain a problem, so Paul describes God’s solution. He gives His people the Holy Spirit. Therefore, we have the ability to serve Him instead of the flesh. For us, it is a choice.

So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. (Romans 8:12)

Yet there is a catch to this too. We are to “put to death the deeds of the body” and be “led by the Spirit” but this is not automatic. In fact, it is a learning process.

The story continues as Paul says we learn how to obey by suffering. We are God’s children . . . “and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.” (Romans 8:17).

At this point, Paul has clarified two roads. I can choose to do whatever my flesh wants, which will not rob me of what God has done, but it will lead me into sin and death. Or I can follow the Spirit and learn how to obey Him through suffering.

At this point in the story of Christian living, some encouragement is a must. Paul offers it in his next statement. “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Romans 8:18).

Suffering is now and glory is a future thing. Can I endure the suffering of learning how to walk as Jesus walked without being able to see this glory in my future? I like visible rewards. Yet Paul seems to anticipate my question. He goes on:

For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. . . . (Romans 8:24–26)

Again, the Holy Spirit will help me. I am weak. I don’t like to suffer. My body ached this morning and I didn’t want to get out of bed. I’ve suffered in many other ways. I’m a wuss. How will I ever deal with anything more? But he says the Spirit of God will help me. Then he offers this marvelous truth that has sustained me since I first became a Christian . . . 

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son. . . . (Romans 8:28–29)

When Paul said “these things” he included the “all things” in this passage. God is so powerfully involved in my life that nothing happens to me without purpose. He is working to make me like Jesus and will use good things and suffering, all things, toward that goal.

In trying to cooperate with Him, I sometimes lose sight of His love for me. It seems that life is too hard, the challenges too great. Paul, in the power of God’s Spirit, anticipated those thoughts too, because he writes this punch line about “these things.” I am blessed by his words.

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 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? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 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. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 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. (Romans 8:31–39)

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Oh loving God, the enemy’s biggest lie is that You do not love me. He jumps in when I struggle with sin, or when my flesh seems more powerful than the Spirit of God. This lie hovers over me when I suffer and when the “all things” of life include nasty and unpleasant and unexpected things.

Yet Your love is constant. Nothing can separate me from it, not sin, accusations, trouble, even physical harm and death. You use all things, even these things, to shape me like Jesus and You do it because You love me. That is why in all these things I am a conqueror, a winner — even more than a winner. You lift me above it all because You love me. You are an awesome God and I am in awe of You because of all these things!