Romans 8:31–39, 1 John 4:7-12
📖 Read
Romans 8:31–39 , 1 John 4:7–12
🔎 Focus
”…nothing…can separate us from the love of God…”
Romans 8:39
✟ Devotion
There is a fundamental truth, here, that no Christian should ever deny. Yet, if you read the list of “separators” that Paul notes, what do you see as missing? Anything?
There are many who quote these words from Romans 8:39 that reasonably apply these to non-Christians because, “…God is love.” (1 John 4:8) This is where potential issues may arise. It isn’t only about whatever accommodation is being made, but how we understand salvation and the road to eternal life with God.
Nothing seems so all encompassing. How could anything, then keep us from the love of God?
There are a number of things that could be reasonably argued would seem to invoke exclusion: unbelief, hatred of God, a different understanding of God, ongoing and deliberate disobedience of God’s ways.
The potential issue isn’t that God doesn’t love the unbeliever, hater, different understander, rebellious. God does. It is not false, then, to say that nothing can separate us from the love of God.
Separation from God’s love has never been the problem, at least from God’s end of things. It is our separation from God that is the issue.
Who is against us? Well, the general ways of the world are. It is our following of the ways of the world that are our separator.
Are we not given everything? Yes, insofar as we have given ourselves to God through accepting Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, and doing our best to embody the way of Jesus through our living.
Who will bring charges against us? The world. The enemy. These cannot separate us. Our inner voice/critic can, but only if we allow it to draw us away from God. The Holy Spirit can, but the Holy Spirit brings “charges” against us, not to condemn us, but to free us.
Can affliction, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, sword, rulers, things (events/situations) of today or tomorrow, angels or powers separate us? No, but our response to those things can.
It is here that we can agree with the Reformed (Calvinist, etc.) tradition, that nothing outside of ourselves can separate us from the love of God. Even if we separate ourselves from God, God’s love does not fade away.
God’s unfailing love, however, does not guarantee of eternal life, and that is the rub for so many, including many Christians. It isn’t about earning God’s love, but the place that God has in your life and being.
🤔 Reflection
- Do you ever feel separated from God or God’s love? How?
- Do Paul’s words comfort you or concern you? Why?
⏏️ Act
Make a list of ways (including some Scripture) that you can reassure yourself of God’s unceasing love for you. Share them with another person, and see what ways they come up with.
🙏 Prayer
Every loving God, thank you for this reminder from your Apostle Paul that things outside of ourselves can never separate us from your love. Help us to restore our well-being to sense, feel, believe, and trust in your unceasing love. Amen.
