Abundant Security
Abundant Security
I was a college student and still young in my walk with Jesus. Some leaders at my church invited me to hear a guy named John Piper preach at a local church. I had never heard of him; but they seemed very excited, so I went along. We arrived to a packed sanctuary, and it didn’t take long to realize why people were excited. He preached with the weight of the glory of God behind every word. And he left me with this lesson: ask good questions when reading the Bible.
Piper preached from Romans 8 – reaching a crescendo at the end:
“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” (Romans 8:35-37).
When he got to verse 37, he asked this simple question. “What does it mean to be more than a conqueror? We know what it means to conquer something, but what about being more than a conqueror?”
Simple, yet profound. His answer? Jesus doesn’t simply give us victory through various trials. Being more than conquerors means that the hardships we face actually serve us in our discipleship journey. They grow our faith, they strengthen our fellowship with God, or they may even usher us into His very presence.
So what does this have to do with Jesus’ “I am the door of the sheep” statement and our current COVID-19 crisis? When Jesus said, “I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture” (John 10:9), He didn’t promise us safety from life’s trials. But He did promise us security through them. We have an abundant security; we are more than conquerors.
Identify the biggest trials you are having during this time and pray something like this, “God, I trust my life will be secure in Your hands. Grow my faith during this time, and help me be shaped by the truth of Your word” – truth such as this:
“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 8:37-39).
By Philip Jones
I was a college student and still young in my walk with Jesus. Some leaders at my church invited me to hear a guy named John Piper preach at a local church. I had never heard of him; but they seemed very excited, so I went along. We arrived to a packed sanctuary, and it didn’t take long to realize why people were excited. He preached with the weight of the glory of God behind every word. And he left me with this lesson: ask good questions when reading the Bible.
Piper preached from Romans 8 – reaching a crescendo at the end:
“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” (Romans 8:35-37).
When he got to verse 37, he asked this simple question. “What does it mean to be more than a conqueror? We know what it means to conquer something, but what about being more than a conqueror?”
Simple, yet profound. His answer? Jesus doesn’t simply give us victory through various trials. Being more than conquerors means that the hardships we face actually serve us in our discipleship journey. They grow our faith, they strengthen our fellowship with God, or they may even usher us into His very presence.
So what does this have to do with Jesus’ “I am the door of the sheep” statement and our current COVID-19 crisis? When Jesus said, “I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture” (John 10:9), He didn’t promise us safety from life’s trials. But He did promise us security through them. We have an abundant security; we are more than conquerors.
Identify the biggest trials you are having during this time and pray something like this, “God, I trust my life will be secure in Your hands. Grow my faith during this time, and help me be shaped by the truth of Your word” – truth such as this:
“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 8:37-39).
By Philip Jones
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