Yet In All These Things
Romans 8: 35-39 NKJ
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 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. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
We move from my least favorite chapter in the book of Romans to my absolute favorite. One of our staff members told me she was looking forward to yesterday’s devotional because I was going to explain Romans chapter seven. Nope. But when I understand that chapter enough to comment, I will. And no, Joy is not a help on Romans chapter seven either.
Ahh, but chapter eight is a totally different story. Romans chapter eight is one of those chapters where you can close your eyes and put your finger on a verse and find a wealth of revelation. Today, we are looking at the correlation between the love of God that is found in Jesus Christ and what that means for us.
Paul asks the question in verse thirty-five: Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Paul had already made one of the greatest statements in the New Testament. If God is for us, who can be against us? And then declaring that if God did not spare His own Son for us, but had Him die for us all, why would God hold back from freely giving us all things? So even though Paul lists some rough stuff - tribulation, distress, famine, war, and yet. Yet in all of these negative things, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. So there it is again. Through Him, Jesus, who loved us. Paul keeps going back to the love of God that is revealed in Jesus Christ. Maybe because we tend to equate love with an emotion. Or we look at love as a feeling and a hug. But we are diminishing the very essence of God when we dismiss love. Paul is saying that nothing we experience in life will be able to separate us from the love of God. We utterly defeat the negatives that Paul listed. Because of love, we win.
And just when you think Paul has made his point clear, writing by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he doubles down on what love can do. Death, life, angels, and principalities are not going to separate us from the love of God. Things present or things to come won't stop God's love. Not height, not depth, not any other created thing. The Holy Spirit is driving this point home. God's love is stronger. God's love is more lasting. God's love has greater dimension than anything created. God's love is immense. And there is no power that can separate us from that love.
Application
I know I have not majored in this love enough. We hear about faith and hope, as we should. But the greatest is love. God is the God of faith and hope, but God is love. What if we started seeing God's love as powerful and the ultimate strength, instead of warm hugs and cute kittens? That may be an extreme comparison, but we must shift our view of love. It was love that sent Jesus to the earth and to the cross. And it is love that strengthens us in the face of problems and distress. Knowing we are loved by God is a stabilizer. Being rooted and grounded in God's love for us opens up possibilities. We all face different challenges in our lives, yet in all these things, we are more than conquerors because of the One who loves us.
Prayer
Thank You, Lord, for Your love. Thank You for loving me. I am loved by You, and that is a strong stabilizing force in my life.