Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Romans 8:35
Nothing you could ever experience, no matter how terrible or frightening, could ever separate you from the love of God. No tribulation and distress you might ever suffer could be so intense that God’s love for you is not even more fervent. No persecution could be so painful that God’s love cannot bring comfort. Famine might starve you of food, but you will never hunger for the Father’s love. Poverty cannot strip you of God’s compassion, just as even death itself is incapable of robbing you of your heavenly Father’s infinite love.
If you base your view of God’s love on your circumstances, you will become confused. There may betimes when you will ask, “How could a loving God allow this to happento me?” You may begin to question what you find clearly stated in the Word of God. God promised that you would never be separated from His love; He did not say that you would never face hardship, persecution, poverty, or danger. If you doubt that God could love you and still allow you to experience difficult experiences, consider the life of Jesus. If you allow the death of Jesus on the cross to forever settle any questions you might have about God’s love, you will approach difficult circumstances with confidence. Knowing that there will never be anything that could separate you from God’s perfect love, you will watch to see how God expresses His love in each circumstance. Don’t ever judge God’s love based on your circumstances. Instead, evaluate your circumstances from the perspective of God’s love.
“Nothing” includes anything you can do. You can’t do something so bad that it will separate you from His love once you’re in it. And THAT, my friend, is a relief!
Absolutely! Nothing we can do can separate us from God! Though, lest we get too comfortable in our sins, our security in Christ is not something we are meant to presume. That is to say, though there are not things we can do to remove ourself from Christ, if we can have a lifestyle of repeated unrepentant sin, that might be evidence that we aren’t genuinely connected to Him in the first place. Passages like 1Corinthians 6 come to mind, as I summarize “you know Christians don’t act like this…” 100% secure in Christ, yet always checking that I am indeed being transformed by the Holy Spirit (that’s what He does) 🙂
Preach it! “Should we sin so that grace may abound? May it never be!” When we understand who we are in light of Who He is, our lives should reflect that. Not perfectly, but consistently. Our security in Christ should show itself in submission to His will and His purposes, and a desire to please Him. Remember what Jesus said? If you love Me, you will follow My commandments. One way we worship and express love is through obedience.