Friday, September 6, 2013

More than Conquerors

While we were sitting in church the other day, Alex nudged me and pointed at Romans 8:37.  I thought this a tad odd seeing as how the sermon was on Psalm 139.  (I apparently wasn’t listening very well since Romans 8:37 was the verse the pastor had just referenced moments before the nudge Alex told me later.)  Alex then quietly explained to me that Romans 8:37 fits into perfectly with both the spirit of this blog and the way we should model our lives (Alex also pointed out how this verse has even more meaning to us as a couple since it was in the passage that was read at our wedding.  You can always rely on the wife to remember those details.)  Here is the verse:

“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”

  If you were to look at Romans 8:37 in Latin some variation on Omnia Vincit Amor would be stated.  Our blog appropriately focuses on the love shared and (the grace given) in Alex and my relationship.  But in actuality our love is just a tiny manifestation of a greater love given freely to us by our Lord and Savior.  Without His example and guiding spirit we could not love one another as we should.  And without it we could not claim to be the conquerors that the Apostle Paul declares in this verse.   Alex and I are both very competitive people and the thought of losing at anything has made competitions between us quite exciting.  But how sweet it is to think that every single day of our lives we get to play out the victory already won for us by a God so loving that he gave himself for us.  It gives me great pause to reflect that a God so mighty that He can speak a universe into existence, a God with such all-encompassing knowledge that he set all the physical constants into perfect harmony, had to die to recover fellowship because of the chasm I set in place by my sin.  'Tis a sweet victory indeed.  


Back to the entirety of the passage we picked for our wedding, Romans 8:28-39.  It was chosen by me (Arthur). When thinking about other weddings I attended and the passages read they almost always focused on the marriage relationship between a man and wife, and that is perfectly legitimate and wonderful but it is like listening to a measure of a great symphony; it cannot encompass the beauty of the whole piece of music.  Alex on the other hand was a little hesitant about using the passage.  She didn’t think a passage about famine, death, or persecution was very wedding appropriate.  She later decided that while it may be a little different for a wedding, it was very marriage appropriate.  Every marriage will experience those rough times, after all we are vowing “for better or for worse”.  However, none of those have the power to separate us from the love of Christ, instead we become conquerors.  If He is for us, than who or what can be against us.  We wanted to focus on the promises of God and His love eternal and rest confident that because of those promises our marriage could succeed and thrive.  And so today we are reminded of God’s grace and promises and encouraged once again to live out the victory of Christ in our lives every day.  In this we are more than conquerors.  Omnia Vincit Amor. 

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