Romans 8:35-37 - Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, "For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
The love with which we are loved by Christ is a love that we will never lose. It’s important for us as Christians to remember this truth. Once we have been adopted by God and made sons and daughters in his family, nothing can take us away from him. Unfortunately, because the world is hard, we may find ourselves feeling as if God’s love is not with us after all. These verses are a reminder of just how permanent the love of God is for us, and we would do well to think about what Paul has written here.
First, we will never be separated from God’s love for us. Sadly, this isn’t the case with any other relationship that we have in this life. You only need to think about instances like the holocaust where family members were seperated by Nazi soldiers, some going to death camps and others going to work camps. Siblings were separated from one another and parents were separated from their children. This terrible pain of loss is something that we will never experience with our Father God. Why is that? Because no power is greater than his to snatch us from his hand.
Second, no trial or difficulty will be able to take his love from us. Whether you are persecuted or your health deteriorates, your suffering may distract you from God’s love, but it can’t remove it. The same thing can be said about distress. No sorrow or anguish or pain or confusion or difficulty can overcome the great love of God. We allow it to at times, but God never allows these things to take away his love from us completely.
Third, no amount of harm that others do to you for believing in Christ can diminish God’s great love for you. Your body may be destroyed by torture, but the love of God will continue to be strong and healthy within your heart. Fourth, the loss of food or drink or clothing can’t take away the love of God either. These are all important things, but they only matter for this temporal life, not for the life to come.
Finally, no danger or weapon can take away God’s love. We may find ourselves at times in terrible circumstances where great harm can come to us, but God’s love that is in us will not be harmed no matter what faces us. All of these things that Paul lists are valuable aspects of human life, and so the thought of losing any of them seems devastating. Yet, if you have the love of God, you can lose everything because you know that God has more in store for you than what you have or experience in this world.
Today, you are more than a conqueror when all of these things come against you. You will triumph for the same reason that Jesus triumphed over suffering and death, and it is because the same love with which the Father loves the Son, is how he loves you. Take hope in this great love today, and see the truth that no matter what comes, God’s love will sustain you to the end.
