Romans 8:35-39. 35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36As it is written, “For your sake, we are being killed all day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
“For I am sure.”
There’s really not much in this life that we can be sure of is there? Once we get past the laws of nature like gravity, or entropy, or motion, or the sun rising in the east, we aren’t left with much that we can bet on.
In Ecclesiastes, the Teacher lists some things we can be sure of: it rains when clouds are full; trees that fall in the woods are left there, and everyone dies.
Ben Franklin’s list of things he was sure of was death and taxes.
What are you positive of? What would you bet your life on? What are you 100% sure is real? Is it God’s love? Is it that you will never, ever, ever be without God’s love for you?
You might be thinking, “Well there must be something that proves God has or will stop loving me.” But there’s not. Look at Paul’s two lists in Romans 8:35-39. First, there’s the list of earthly things – tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, and sword. So even your worst day can’t take God’s love away. And having God’s love does not mean there won’t be really bad days. Tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, and sword happen. For Paul, they happened all the time. A really hard day (or life) is not proof that God has stopped loving you.
Then there’s Paul’s second list, his cosmic list – death, life, angels, rulers, things present, things to come, powers, height, depth. These are things beyond the physical. It’s a pretty far-out list. Literally:
death and life –death itself, cannot keep us from God’s love. In fact, it’s quite the opposite, death ushers us into the eternal love of God.
angels – good ones or bad ones; none of them can snatch you out from God’s love.
rulers – not even these supernatural forces can keep you from God’s love.
things present or things to come – wherever you are in time, you’re never beyond God’s love.
powers – hmmm. Paul might mean the gods of the Greeks, or maybe earthly authorities that oppose God. Either way, you’re still safe in God’s love.
height nor depth – wherever you are in the universe God’s love is there.
To live is Christ means there’s nothing you can do, nowhere you can go, no dimension of time or space, no trial or tribulation, no cosmic or earthly kingdom, no dying or living, nothing in all creation, that can change the fact that God loves you because he loves you. He loves you for who you are, not for what you do or don’t do. He can never love you more and he can never love you less. Of this, we can be sure.
You: Are you sure God loves you? How?
You in Christ: How might your life change today if you really believed that God loves you perfectly?
Christ in you: Where is one specific place that you can apply God’s love to your heart today?
To Live is Christ 