Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
Romans 8:35,37 (NRSV)
Over the course of my life, I have felt and experienced some of what Paul is mentioning in this verse: hardship, distress, persecution, and peril, but I have not yet, thanks be to God, experienced famine, nakedness, or the sword. However, when I have experienced the others, I have had in those moments the natural thoughts of "Where is God in all of this?" and "If God is so powerful and so loving, why am I going through this?"
It is during those times when Paul's words here in Romans bring about the greatest comfort. There is NOTHING and NO ONE that can separate us from the love of Christ. Wow! Even when Stephanie's and my checkbook was down to $16 in our first year of marriage and we had no clue where or how we would get money to live on, this verse was of great comfort to us.
Jesus never promised an easy life for his followers. However, he did promise that we would continue to experience life and even face persecution, peril, and the sword for following him. This is why the promise found in Romans 8 is so important to those who follow Jesus. We can answer Paul's question of "Who will separate us from the love of Christ?" with an emphatic NO ONE!
In fact, in and through these experiences, we find that because of Jesus Christ, we are more than conquerors! We are more than conquerors because Jesus loves us his love cannot be removed, hidden, or separated from us by anything in creation. Take that good news today and run with it! We are more than conquerors in all these situations of life and more because of the unfailing, unceasing, and unwavering love of Jesus Christ that cannot be separated from us.
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