Week 40—Wednesday 2 Corinthians 13:3-4
Week 40—WEDNESDAY
“IN ALL THESE THINGS
WE ARE MORE THAN CONQUERORS”
We are now ready to listen to a very important verse from Paul: “I appeal to you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Rom. 12:1-2).
After wandering around in the Old Testament in the ninth, tenth, and eleventh chapters of Romans and getting mixed up with an impossible view of predestination, Paul returns to his Christianity when he left off his excursion which began at the end of the glorious eighth chapter. In that eighth chapter he said something important when he said this: “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Rom. 8:37). Here he set the Christian victory “in”—“in all these things . . . conquerors.” This makes the Christian victory different. In Buddhism it is: “apart from all these things”; in Hinduism: “above all, these things”; in Communism: “as a part of all these things”; modern secularism: “through all these things.” The Christian gains victory not “apart from,” nor “above,” nor “a part of,” nor “through,” but “in.” The victory is found not by escape from, nor by escape into—but “in.” The Christian gains the victory “in”—the Word has become flesh, but the Christian never becomes “these things”; is in the midst of, but not of. Christians participate but always inwardly are different; live in two worlds at once—the kingdom of God and the kingdoms of this world. Christians live life in the flesh but the flesh is in control of the Kingdom; Christians seek that “first,” last, and always. Therefore Christians walk by the Spirit and not by the flesh. And the flesh becomes the instrument of the outer manifestation of the Spirit. The human Spirit and flesh are under one control and the victory is worked out “in.” No dodging, no escapism—It’s all “in.”
O Jesus Lord, we thank you that your victory was “in,” even when that “in” meant a cross. Teach me to accept the “in” as the sphere of my victory too. For I want no paradise if it turns out to be a fool’s paradise. I want the paradise of your reality. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: Let all my victories be “in”—no escapism, no drugs, mental or physical.