Romans 8:31-39

Scripture Verse

What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³² He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? ³³ Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. ³⁴ Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. ³⁵ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? ³⁶ As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” ³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

An Unfathomable Love

‘‘I love you!“

To hear these three words must elicit a response from any living being. Most of us can recall having heard them said or having declared them to someone else. And they are usually accompanied with a burst of emotion, elation or delight.  But so often such words spoken at the moment with sincerity often lapse into oblivion with time. We inevitably expect gains for our giving.

God’s eternal declaration of love was made tangible on the first Christmas as his own Son entered our world and took on our form in order to bear our guilt and through his death offer us reconciliation with God.  And through Christ’s resurrection he gives us a new standing and future as he intercedes for us at the right hand of God. This is a divine love, one of a totally different dimension. A love which defies human logic.

Such a declaration of love demands a response and gives us hope even in difficult times and circumstances.  Most of us have not experienced „famine or nakedness, danger or sword“. We are living in a material world and have physical bodies with many limitations, but souls and spirits created for an intimate relationship to our Saviour.  Paul reminds us that there are real threats within the unseen world, demonic powers seeking to undermine our faith. There are events or things of our past to haunt us, uncertain future scenarios that may cause us to tremble and despair, perhaps even the technologies of our time which could threaten our security or political developments that cause us to despair.

So we must daily find comfort in God’s Word and promise: He, the Almighty God, is „for us“. „He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him for us… will graciously give us all things (that we really need).“  And his declaration of love is not limited to our present life on this earth.  It is eternal and will be fulfilled when we pass from death into true life and can revel in his presence forever.  This is the eternal hope based on a love which knows no boundaries, no dimensions. A love which we will never understand and which we do not deserve, but a love which demands our daily response of devotion and thankfulness to Christ Jesus, our Saviour.

Prayer:

Father God, we thank you for your eternal love, your plan of redemption which required the greatest sacrifice imaginable by giving your Son Jesus to take our guilt upon himself, suffering and dying in order that we might live, being no longer condemned but reconciled to You forever. May your love be seen through us in our daily lives, in our relationships and in all of our being as we look forward to the day of Christ’s appearing or the moment of our heavenly „check-in“ (as a close friend of ours has called it).