GOD’S LOVE NEVER GOES ON VACATION OR DIMINISHES
BIBLE PASSAGE:
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor
demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 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.
(Romans 8:38-39)
MEDITATION:
When pain and adversity enter our lives, we can be tempted to
wrongly rationalize and conclude that God has abandoned us.
We might have thoughts like,
“If God is here, He would have done something by now”
However, today’s passage says that nothing can separate us from
the love of Christ. That confirms that He has not abandoned us.
No events; no circumstances; no trials or tribulations; not a single
distress can remove us from His divine love. We are assured we
can be victorious through Christ, who loves us.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine
or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:
“For your sake we face death all day long; we are
considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all
these things we are more than conquerors through
him who loved us.
(Romans 8:35-37)
From scripture, we also learn that our present sufferings cannot be
compared to a future glory awaiting those who belong to the Lord.
For all believers, there is a glory that is unseen now, but it will be
revealed at the return of Jesus Christ.
If we were able to compare the impact of our present sufferings
to the glory of when Jesus returns, we would discover that our
trials can be endured, if we remember that we will be with our
Savior eternally, when He returns.
The return of Jesus will be so overwhelming that there is nothing
good in this world that can be compared to its awesomeness.
I consider that our present sufferings are not worth
comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
(Romans 8:18)
Although it may not be very easy to do during our trials, we need
to focus on the glory we will experience when Jesus Christ returns.
When we are overwhelmed and consumed with what appears to be
a hopelessness of our situation, it can be very depressing.
However, if we can focus on the glory of the return of Jesus, we can be
uplifted with a new hope; an assurance that in the end, everything is
going to be okay. When we can focus on Him, we can experience a new
purpose for living and we will have a new capacity for enduring and
coping with the devastating events we are facing right now.
What does all this mean?
The scriptures remind us of God’s good purpose for transforming us
into the image of Jesus Christ. God knows that each of us respond in
different ways, so He reaches us in ways designed especially for who
we are, and the level of our spiritual maturity.
Sometimes He may have to reach us through trials that might seem
overwhelming and unfair to us, but we need to remember that God
knows us, and He knows what triggers our responses.
For those God foreknew he also predestined to be
conformed to the image of his Son, that he might
be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.
(Romans 8:29)
When we understand His purpose, we can develop a victorious
eternal perspective, which creates hope and perseverance in us.
For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is
seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they
already have? But if we hope for what we do not
yet have, we wait for it patiently.
(Romans 8:24-25)
Nothing we have gone through in the past, or that we are dealing
with presently, or that we will encounter in the future can take us
away from Christ. He is with us every step of the way, and we can
sense our need for Him in our darkest hours.
For I am convinced that neither death nor life,
neither angels nor demons, neither the present
nor the future, nor any powers,
(Romans 8:38)
The unseen powers of evil (which try to deceive and entrap us) are no
match for the Lord. He holds us securely in His omnipotent grasp.
Our God is self-sufficient and self-existent, so if He calls us His own,
nothing and nobody (not even ourselves) can break that relationship.
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.
(Romans 8:39)
This promise of security in Christ isn’t a ‘license to sin without
consequence’. Instead, it should motivate us to fall on our knees
in gratitude and praise. As we understand the greatness of this
promise, our love for Christ should increase, and be evident in
our obedience and perseverance, regardless of our difficulties.
ACTION:
Have you been deceived into believing that God has abandoned you?
The evil one wants to take any and every circumstance and use them
to make you feel separated from the Lord. Rather than sinking into
a state of depression, we need to focus on the scriptures above. We
need to turn our back to the evil one, and face the Lord who promises
to always be with us (during the good and bad, and the peaks and valleys).
We should always remember that God loves us so much that He will use
whatever drastic measures are required to draw us nearer to Him. There
are times when He may use discipline as part of His sanctification effort
(His process that transforms us from who we are, into who He wants us to be).
We can either be in rebellion to His efforts and choose to remain in control
our lives (pursuing the things we want to do), or we can embrace what He is
doing to purge us of unrighteousness and fill us with righteousness. It is not
a game with God, it is serious business that determines where we will spend
eternity. God doesn’t want us to miss out on Heaven, and it is up to each of
us to ‘get on the same page’ with Him and His love for us.
We never know what His discipline may look like, but we will know
when He is showing us His love through discipline. Does that mean
He loves us less or that He wants to hurt us? No, that is not the kind
of love our Creator has for us, and the more we realize the magnitude
of His love, the closer we will be in our relationship with Him.
Our Heavenly Father.
– Knows what is required to purge us of unrighteousness.
– Knows how to fill us with more righteousness.
– Knows how to guide us toward depending on Him,
instead of remaining independent and self-sufficient.
– Knows what needs to be changed in our lives
for us to be usable by Him.
– Knows how to draw us nearer to Him.
– Knows how to teach us to love others.
– Knows how to transform us into a likeness of His Son.
Everything He does is from His heart of love for those He has created.
Think about this:
Would you create something just to watch it fail?
Would you sew a dress for someone for it not to fit?
Would you build a house just to watch it crumble?
None of us would want to create anything to fail, so it’s reasonable
to assume that God would never create any of us just to watch us fail.
He created us because He loves us, and He wants us to fellowship with
Him. When we were created, He gave us special talents and abilities.
And, when He graces us with salvation, He gives us a special spiritual
gift to be used in serving Him and pointing others toward Jesus.
In addition, God sends the Holy Spirit to guide us in using the spiritual
gift we have been given, to assist us in the transformation process, and
to be our comforter, encourager and friend. God knows the weaknesses
of every individual He created, and the Holy Spirit is an extension of the
love of God, Himself, to strengthen and encourage us.
Being transformed by God to become more like Jesus and to be useable
by Him, can be challenging. Why? Because it means we will be leaving
our comfort zone that we have established for ourselves. If we are going
to be transformed, it’s going to require more strength than we have, so
God has given us the Holy Spirit to encourage and support us.
One of the goals of Jesus was, to reach out to others with the good news
of God’s love and His desire for us to join Him in Heaven. If we expect
to be like Him, then we need to be purged of unrighteousness and filled
with righteousness. The Holy Spirit can help us make the transition.
You were taught, with regard to your former way of life,
to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its
deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your
minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God
in true righteousness and holiness.
(Ephesians 4:22-24)
Let’s be honest, most everyone doesn’t embrace change, do they? Satan
knows that, and he will do everything he can to cause us to find reasons
why we should not welcome our transformation (sanctification) by God.
If we love God and our faith is genuine, then we will rise above thoughts
planted by Satan and embrace the efforts from our loving Creator to
change us, so our faith will increase, and we will be more pleasing to Him.
His enduring love for us and His desire for us to have His best, is the
reason He wants to transform us by any means that will be effective.
Why? Because He wants to forgive us and save us, so we can fellowship
with Him eternally. Look at what we can expect if we reject His efforts
change us.
If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have
received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice
for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of
judgment and of raging fire that will consume
the enemies of God.
(Hebrews 10:26-27)
None of us want to become (and remain) an enemy of God. Our
Creator doesn’t want us to be His enemy either, so He lovingly
changes each of us so there will be a ‘sacrifice for sin’ remaining
for all of us.
Pray,
“Heavenly Father, thank You for Your promise that nothing
can separate me from You. Whenever I am having a difficult
time, remind me of the promises in Your Word. Help me to
realize when Satan starts trying to convince me that You
have deserted me. During those times, teach me to humbly
come to You in prayer and thank You for Your promises that
cannot be destroyed by Satan. When others are going through
difficult times, teach me how to encourage them and show them
in Your Word that nothing can separate them from Your love.”
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