Sometimes we Need to be Reminded
Romans 8:38-39 NKJV — For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Are You Discouraged?
When I was young, I memorized stuff and remembered it. Some of it was good and some of it was not so good. One of the things I memorized was this:
One day as I sat musing, sad and lonely and without a friend,A voice came to me from out of the gloom saying,“Cheer-up things could be worse.” So I cheered up and sure enough,
Things got worse.
Now that cheer may have come from a bottle, but nevertheless, we all have times when we feel forsaken by God and by family and friends. We have days when the light at the end of the tunnel is the light of the oncoming train. But Paul, a man who ultimately was martyred for the sake of the Gospel, reminds us that nothing can separate believers from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The Work of the Holy Spirit
This whole passage has to do with the positive work of the Holy Spirit in and for believers. When verse twenty-eight says, “all things work together for good to those who love God, ” the real meaning is all these things that the Holy Spirit does work together for good to them that love God. Satan is at work doing a lot of things that deceive, manipulate, discourage and destroy a Christian. He will lead us astray. But the Holy Spirit will never do that. He helps us pray when we don’t know how. He has adopted us into the family of God and, ultimately, He will be part of our glorification.
We can be sure that God loves us no matter what our circumstances. While God loves the unsaved sinner, they do not appreciate this love or the value of it. Ultimately, the unsaved who rebel against God are rejecting the one thing that makes life worth living, and that one thing is the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The Love which is in Christ Jesus our Lord
He loved us enough to let His Son bear the punishment we deserved because of our sin. He loves all colors of people, all creeds and nationalities. He loves the rich and the poor and all segments of society. But only trust in the Lord Jesus makes that love effective in our lives. Only the saved can really appreciate God’s love.
God will cast people that reject His Son into a place of eternal conscious punishment after they die. He does that because He loves His Son. But for those who realize that they are unworthy of this love and who come to the Lord and trust Him and His Word, they have God’s word for it that they are saved and that no one and nothing will ever be able to separate them from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Not even death!
Bruce Collins
Meditation for the week of August 8, 2021
No comments yet.