More Than Conqueror

Saw this on Justin Taylor's blog and had to post it here because it's so good!!

“In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”

(Romans 8:37)

John Piper asks:

What does “more than conquerors” mean?

How can you be more than a conqueror when you risk for the cause of God and get hurt for it?

Answer:

If you venture some act of obedience that magnifies the supreme value of Jesus Christ and get attacked by one of the enemies mentioned in verse 35, say, famine or sword, what must happen for you to be called simply “a conqueror”? Answer: You must not be separated from the love of Jesus Christ. The aim of the attacker is to destroy you, and cut you off from Christ, and bring you to final ruin without God. You are a conqueror if you defeat this aim and remain in the love of Christ. God has promised that this will happen. Trusting this, we risk.
But what must happen in this conflict with famine and sword if you are to be called more than a conqueror? One biblical answer is that a conqueror defeats his enemy, but one who is more than a conqueror subjugates his enemy. A conqueror nullifies the purpose of his enemy; one who is more than a conqueror makes the enemy serve his own purposes. A conqueror strikes down his foe; one who is more than a conqueror makes his foe his slave.
Practically what does this mean? Let’s use Paul’s own words in 2 Corinthians 4:17: “This slight momentary affliction is preparing [effecting, or working, or bringing about] for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.” Here we could say that “affliction” is one of the attacking enemies. What has happened in Paul’s conflict with it? It has certainly not separated him from the love of Christ. But even more, it has been taken captive, so to speak. It has been enslaved and made to serve Paul’s everlasting joy. “Affliction,” the former enemy, is now working for Paul. It is preparing for Paul “an eternal weight of glory.” His enemy is now his slave. He has not only conquered his enemy. He has more than conquered him.
Affliction raised his sword to cut off the head of Paul’s faith. But instead the hand of faith snatched the arm of affliction and forced it to cut off part of Paul’s worldliness. Affliction is made the servant of godliness and humility and love. Satan meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. The enemy became Paul’s slave and worked for him an even greater weight of glory than he would have ever had without the fight. In that way Paul—and every follower of Christ—is more than a conqueror.

—John Piper, Don’t Waste Your Life (Wheaton: Crossway, 2003), pp. 96-97.

How the Lord Provides

I've been struck lately on how the Lord provides.
And not just how he meets our material needs--

but the spiritual ones.

The emotional ones.

When feeling spent and miles from where I'd like to be,

suddenly, there's a ram in the thicket.

And even when the ram doesn't come,
the Lamb never fails to.
He's always there--
The Lamb,
The Shepherd of our Souls, 
The Lion of Judah. 

Yes, somehow, He can be all three.
He is all three.
For us.
Physically.
Emotionally.
Spiritually.

Oh, that I would have Abraham's faith when asked--
"The Lord will provide!"
"He who has promised is faithful!"


He will provide, whether I believe it or not.
That's His nature.

It flows out of His love toward for us.

"But God demonstrates His own love toward us,
in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."

The Shepherd and Guardian of our souls will not--
adamantly refuses to be put out by our lack of faith.

"He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all,
How will He not also with Him freely give us all things?"

I do lack faith at times. I admit it.
I'm a slow learner and need to be retaught--
Over and over and over.
But, thanks be to God!
The mustard seed is growing shoots and roots these days.