Romans 8:31-39
31 What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us?32 Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else?33 Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. 34 Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.
35 Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? 36 (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”[o]) 37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.
38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[p] neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
As I was reflecting on this passage this morning, I began to think of a time when I worked in a shop as a teenager. The manager asked me to take some money to the bank and I decided to steal £2 for cigarettes. The next day he called me into the office and I lied, saying that I had no idea what happened to the money. He fired me on the spot. When my mum asked me what happened, I lied to her too. She was outraged that they had fired me ‘innocently.’ She phoned the manager and gave him a piece of her mind. Poor man.
I could think of a hundred worse moments in my life, times when I have acted selfishly and badly. Times when my actions have caused far worse harm. However, this one stands out to me today because that manager had every right to fire me. The money was small, the theft was minor but I had betrayed their trust and could not remain in that shop. I was fired and banned from the store, justly. My reaction was not to make amends but to spread lies about them, to make myself feel better and to spread more deceit.
But this was the young man that Jesus reached out to and offered eternal life, unexpected peace, relentless hope and undeserved joy. He had no reason to trust me. I had done far worse than this. I have done worse since. But even though I did nothing to deserve it, God rescued me and invited me to become part of his family.
Every now and then I have moments when life does not go as I want it to. I do not see the breakthrough that I wanted, I am hurt by someone, or I am the victim of a perceived injustice and there is a voice inside that points my focus to heaven and asks me, where is God in all this? Why has he allowed this to happen? Has he abandoned you?
But if he reached out and rescued me when I least deserved it, how much more can I be confident that he will not abandon me now. My relationship with God is not based on merit. It is based on his grace. And so, I can be confident in every season, in every situation, that there is nothing that will pull me from God’s love, his plan and his grace for my life. I am eternally safe in his arms.
There is nothing that anyone can do (yourself included) that will separate you from the love that God has for you.
So when life is hard, we remember that our hope is secure and eternal because it is not based on our performance but on God’s character. This moment that we live in is still the cover page of the story of our lives. There is so much ahead and our trust is secure in Christ. The best really is still to come.
