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Love Exercise 3

            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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