I’ve never been a gamer, and am not to this day. I was a teenager before we got a Nintendo. It was over ten years ago when we got a Wii. I’ve only really played that with my nieces and nephews. The game of choice has been Mario Cart. I can usually compete with them, but rarely win. Sometimes I’m so far back, the game gives me the bullet to help catch me up in the race. My favorite surprise to get in the game though is the invincibility star. No matter what comes at me, or who wrecks into me, the bounce off and wreck. The problem is that it only lasts for a few seconds and then I’m able to be wrecked again. It would be great if there were invincibility stars in life we could pick up.
I love Romans 8. If there was one chapter in the Bible that summed it all up, it would be that one. As you get towards the end of that chapter, Paul starts listing things that we face in life. He asks if tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger or swords can separate us from the love of Jesus. He goes on to list more things we face like death, life, angels, principalities, threatening things in the present, threatening things in the future, the powers that be, heights, depths, or anything created. All of these represent trials, situations or circumstances that we go through and can overwhelm us or make us feel abandoned by God. He assures us that going through these things doesn’t diminish God’s love for us. Not only that, they don’t have the ability to conquer us.
After talking about half these, and before listing the rest, in verse 37 he writes, “Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors and gain an overwhelming victory through Him who loved us [so much that He died for us]” (AMP). His love for us is like that invincibility star. It give us the power to have overwhelming victory no matter what we face or what attack we’re under. It didn’t say we wouldn’t feel the weight or the pressure of these circumstances. It simply assures us that they don’t have the power to defeat us or to separate us from the love of Jesus. You may be getting attacked from all sides today and feeling the weight of the world. Just remember that you’re not alone and that through Jesus, you are more than a conqueror who will gain an overwhelming victory.
Photo by Aaron Thomas on Unsplash
Devotions by Chris Hendrix 