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)
To all in Rome who are
loved by God and called to be his holy people: Grace and peace to
you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 1:3)
It seems that Biblegateway.com is determined to look at
passages that I wrote about recently, and since I don’t have any other topics
in mind at the moment, I think I’ll take a closer look at this one. The first
thing that needs to be noted is that the second passage tells us precisely to
whom the first was written. It wasn’t written to everyone, but to those who are
loved by God, called to be his holy people, for whom God is their Father in the
same way that He is Paul’s (he uses the possessive pronoun “our”), and for whom
Jesus Christ is Lord.
If someone doesn’t fit into all four categories, the letter isn’t
written to that person, and it is that person’s responsibility to deal with
that fact in the way he/she chooses, with the consequences being either inclusion
or continued exclusion. To claim that God should change what is written is to
stand in judgment over God as His god. Discounting either passage as “not from
God” is doing the same thing.
But, once a person does fit all four categories, what’s in the first
passage above works. Let’s go through this as a prayer exercise. As with the
other exercises from last week, say the prayer aloud and note where your soul
struggles. Take those areas to God.
Heavenly Father, death cannot separate me from Your love. It is not the end.
It doesn’t bring extinction. To be absent from my body is to be present with
you. At the same time, life doesn’t separate me from You either. I am Your
child now, in relationship with You now. I don’t have to wait until the “sweet
by and by” to love You and be loved by You.
Lord, neither angels nor demons can keep us apart. I know that both
angels and demons are vastly powerful beings, but if Lucifer, Beelzebub, Asmodeus,
Belial, Baal, Chemosh, Michael, Gabriel and all of the other angels and demons formed
an army against us, they could not defeat Your love. They don’t have the power
to do it.
Not only that, but neither the things that are happening right now, or
the things that might happen tomorrow can come between Your love for me and me.
Frigid temperatures, power failures, water main breaks, and corrupt governments
can’t come between you and me. Neither can (add your own present or anticipated circumstances.)
Father, neither heights nor depths can do it either. The things we fear,
even fear irrationally, cannot[1]. The greatest successes
and the worst failures, the highest joy or lowest depression cannot separate
You and me.
And nothing else in all creation can separate me from Your love. Since I’m
part of that creation, that means even I can’t do it – and Lord, I have to
admit that I suspect I’m the one who works hardest at it. Forgive me and help
me live in the light of this truth.
[1]
Acrophobia – fear of heights, Claustrophobia – fear of closed in spaces like
depths, Bathophobia – the fear of depths.
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