Reflection on Rom 8:36-37
As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
The verse begins with the words: “As it is written.” Where is it written in Scripture? In Psalm 44:23: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” The Apostle Paul tells of his personal experience: “To the present hour we both hunger and thirst, and we are poorly clothed, and beaten, and homeless. And we labour, working with our own hands. Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure; being defamed, we entreat. We have been made as the filth of the world, the offscouring of all things until now.” (1Cor 4:11-13) And in another place he says: “For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.” (2Cor 4:11) “And why do we stand in jeopardy every hour? I affirm, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus, I die daily.” (1Cor 15:30-31)
The centre of all Christianity is Christ crucified and Christ risen. We were immersed through baptism into His death and received the new life of the risen Christ. Baptism is like a seed, the seed of God’s life in us. But there is also another seed in us, the seed of sin, which we inherit from our first parents. To be able to grow in us, God’s seed needs favourable conditions. The basic condition is that we must fight against the seed of evil and its poisoned fruits. Otherwise, it would choke God’s life in us like the weeds choke the plants. Jesus calls us to fight this fight when He says: “Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Me.” (Mt 16:24) It does not mean a cross of wood but everyday situations when the will of God crosses our will. If we act wilfully, do not respect God’s laws and do not follow our conscience, the spiritual poison in us spreads. Man becomes addicted to all kinds of vices: gluttony, alcoholism, smoking, various forms of drug abuse, immorality, careerism, mobile phone, internet or TV addiction, unclean and satanic music, gambling, some women indulge in self-pity, look on others with envy without self-criticism, which gives rise to rivalry, unfair bitterness and manipulation. Each of us has one or more evil inclinations, and that is why we need to apply the words of Jesus: “Deny yourself…” If we do not consent to the evil inclination but fight against it, we carry the cross which purifies us and gains for us merit for heaven.
A true Christian is God’s warrior. He fights against sin and evil, as well as against the forces of darkness which either affect our thoughts and feelings directly or affect us through the world. The system of evil, which is connected with the spirit of the world and attacks us with professional lies, subjects man to painful humiliation and ridicule. It turns him into an illiterate, ignoramus or fool, and ridicules the true faith as weakness or superstition. That is why many a Christian is ashamed of faith and unable to defend it. Therefore, we need fellowship to have the power of the Spirit of God and to be able to convict and ridicule the mockers in a true manner. Their unbelief is contrary to reason, and they do not want to believe because they do not love the truth and even refuse to know it. They disguise their cowardice by showing off and by ridiculing true Christians. We just need to convict them and not fear them. Sometimes we have to do so sensitively, and at other times we must even do so trenchantly. If anyone ridicules the faith, just ask him: “What benefit do you get from your unbelief? You live in deceit and iniquity, and hell is prepared for you. There you are! You must admit it. And what about me? I lose nothing but my chains. Faith will save me not only from the bondage of alcohol, drugs or perversion, but it fills my soul already in this life with the true peace that you lack. I can give my children the most precious gift – the good example of a Christian father (or mother). This is a priceless treasure.” We must be aware of this and not let others drive us into a corner, ridicule us or humiliate us.
That is why interior prayer is so important, because it builds a true relationship to Jesus, our Saviour. Another thing that is important is that I may talk to a wise Christian where I can truly expose the spirit of the world and the spirit of fear, and resist it strongly. The motivation is not only the love for God, who desires our highest good and gave His only begotten Son for us, but also true love for myself – I do not want to be a slave of lies and evil, but I want to be free. I want to obtain eternal life, which is the supreme good. I must be ready, for the sake of this supreme good, to lose not only a partial good but above all that which harms both soul and body.
The struggle for the salvation of the soul is above all an inner struggle. Those who really fight will understand these words: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” And they will also understand the second part: “Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” We will experience the power of God, the power of Christ’s resurrection, which has already been given to us through holy baptism. This power grows in various situations through our surrender to death with Christ. It is not a physical surrender to death but rather a spiritual death to ourselves with Christ. One must completely renounce oneself, one’s fear, and this is spiritual death. Nothing will then separate us from the love of Christ, as we have recited over the past two weeks – neither tribulation nor distress nor persecution nor famine nor nakedness nor peril nor sword. By dying to ourselves every day, the power of God works in us and we store up for ourselves treasures for all eternity, which, as the Lord Jesus says, rust will not destroy and thieves will not steal.
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