Good
Morning Friends,
“What,
then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against
us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all -- how will he
not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any
charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he
that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died -- more than that, who was raised to life
-- is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall
separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution
or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: ‘For your sake we
face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in
all these things we are more than conquerors through him
who
loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor
demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor
depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the
love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:31-39)
The
list Paul provides of the things that will not separate us from the love of God
is pretty exhaustive. It’s meant to be! The seed of life that God has implanted
in every believer is not fragile. The natural flow of life, the wicked world
around us, and even Satan himself can throw their most painful stuff at us, but
the life of God cannot be removed from us by what comes at us from outside. Nothing
external is ever powerful enough to separate us from God, God won’t allow it
to.
James
was put to death with the sword.
Stephen
was stoned.
According
to tradition, Paul was crucified.
Tradition
says Peter was crucified upside down.
Yet,
as horrible as those things were, they did not separate them from God. In fact,
they did quite the opposite. Death ushered each of them into the fullness of
God’s presence! Death was powerless to separate them from God.
Life
can’t separate us, either. God is there in the midst of disease and infirmity. God
is there through the death of someone we love. God is there when someone we
care about walks out of our life. God is there when finances are tight. God is
there when your job isn’t going well, even when you get fired. There is no
situation in life during which God will flee from you.
Jesus
told His disciples just before He went back to heaven, “I am with you always.”
(Matthew 28:20) He has kept His promise. He always will. You can count on Him.
His,
by Grace,
Steve
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