In all these things

The title of this blog post comes from a verse in Romans 8:37, "Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us."

What are the things that the apostle Paul is referring to? Verse 35 gives us the answer. "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?"

There are 7 things mentioned in this verse. If you look at them carefully you will see that all these things can be carried out by our fellow men. That is a very negative aspect of this verse.

The positive aspect is given to us in verse 37 "...we are more than conquerors..." through Christ. Let's look at the 7 things in verse 35.

Tribulation can be a time of testings and trial. Tribulation can come in many forms.

Distress I think we can all relate to this; to be in situations where things go wrong and we have no control over it.

Persecution can take many forms; such things as verbal abuse, physical abuse, mental abuse, racial abuse, financial pressures, religious intolerance and bigotry.

Famine occurs in many countries when the food crops fail or there is insufficient food to feed these nations.

Nakedness can come about due to persecution or abject poverty. What a terrible plight; no clothing to wear and exposure to all kinds of weather conditions. On top of that the humiliation of it all.

Peril to me means life threatening situations.

Sword conveys the thought of death or life threatening injuries.

The apostle Paul was a person who experienced many of these 7 things in his own life and yet he remained confident, fully trusting in his Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. The last two verses of Romans chapter 8 seem to sum up his thoughts.

Romans 8:38, 39

(38) "For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, (39) nor height nor depth, nor any created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

"Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us." (Romans 8:37).

An old Scottish Christian I knew had a favourite exhortation. "Keep looking up, keep going on!"

Jon Peasey

Biblical Perspectives blog www.jon-peasey.blogspot.com

[All Scriptures quoted are from the New King James version; unless otherwise noted. Words outlined in bold type are to emphasis a point]

[You are welcome to comment on this post, by clicking on the comments section below]