Nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:39)
The deepest desire of every human heart is to experience a love that will last. However, it is a sad but inescapable truth that if we live long enough, we will lose everyone we love. But there is a love that nothing in this world can ever take away from us, and that is the love of God in Christ Jesus.
History has demonstrated that most of mankind’s miseries come from feeling unloved. All the way back in the Garden of Eden, the devil convinced Adam and Eve that God did not really love them because He would not give them everything. The serpent pointed to the one prohibition that God had given them — “Do not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” — to plant the suspicion that God did not have their best interest in mind. If God had really loved them, Adam and Eve supposed, He would not restrict their freedom to do whatever they wanted. So, having been convinced at the deepest level of their hearts that God did not truly love them, Adam and Eve chose to rebel against God, and we have been rebelling ever since . . . and feeling the exact same way: unloved.
But this is not for you! Today’s verse makes it crystal clear that we are indeed loved by God, and that love is as personal as it is permanent. Notice how Paul framed out this truth as he was writing to a church that would soon be suffering unimaginable persecution because they were followers of Jesus Christ.
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 8:37-39)
As a pastor and a theologian, I simply cannot find a more comforting verse in all of sacred Scripture. Why? It’s easy to imagine that we are unloved when storm winds begin to blow; we start to wonder if God has abandoned us. But the apostle Paul asserts that is impossible, because greater is the power that is at work within us than any power that can ever come against us. And that power is love.
Paul was reminding his readers then and now that no matter what comes up against us, from persecution to illness to even death itself, we have a love that will last forever. When this truth seizes us, we will feel a supernatural security in the face of any trial or tragedy that comes our way, knowing that nothing can loosen the grip of our Lord’s love for us.
Does the life you are currently living reflect your belief in this truth? Paul declared that “We are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Romans 8:37). Because we are in Christ, we are the objects of a love that will never falter, fade, or fail, no matter what comes against us. That truth frees us from fear and doubt and empowers us to live lives of faith, no matter what challenges may confront us, because God’s love for us is as unconquerable as it is unending. He meets the deepest desire of our hearts; his banner over us is love (Song of Solomon 2:4).
This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!
Grace for the Race 