Skip to main content

Nothing

              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)

Years ago, I believed there was an exception to this passage. Death, life, angels, demons, present, future, powers, height, depth, nor anything else in all creation could separate me from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord, but I could separate myself. I know there are people who would say I was correct, but I’m not so sure anymore. Yes, I know that our sin can come between us and God, but remember the father in the story of the prodigal son? The love was still there, even if the prodigal walked away.

            It would be nice to say that’s not an issue as we look at this “Comfort Food” passage. Unfortunately, it is an issue, because it is at the heart of one of the enemy’s attacks. The questions of where God was when something bad happened, or how a good God could let the bad thing happen, or of our guilt as we’re sure we’ve gone too far, and God can never forgive this. And what we need to know to strengthen ourselves (com - with, fort – strength) is that those bad things don’t separate us from the love of God.

            But we need to take it further. This passage isn’t just about comfort, it’s also about resilience and counterattack. If we know as a point of reality and not just of theology that nothing can separate us from the love of God, then we can rest assured that we are cared for. And when we are assured that we are cared for by someone who has the capacity to care for us – someone strong, wise, and caring enough – specifically of us, then we can and should experience joy even in the midst of bad things.

            What comes to mind here is Superman, either the old tv show where bad guys are shooting at him or in the second Christopher Reeve movie where three Kryptonians and Superman punch and kick each other all over the place. How stupid are they all? Don’t they get that Superman (and all other Kryptonians) can’t be hurt – no matter how hard they try? We’re like Superman. It’s not that we can’t be harmed, but that we can’t be separated from God’s love. If we really believed that, we could laugh when bad things happen to us. We could have joy.  That might cause all those people and things that seek to separate us from God’s love to work harder, but that only gives us reason to laugh harder. Eventually, they’ll go away until we let down our guard.

            I’m not saying that we should laugh when bad things happen or that there’s something wrong with us if we feel physical or emotional distress. I’m just saying that the distress can’t separate us from God’s love, so we can be joyful.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Think About These Things

                 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:8) This passage is a major challenge for me. Like everyone else, I struggle to keep my thoughts from wandering off into the weeds, then wondering what possible benefits those weeds might have… Sigh. But as a writer, I have to delve at least a little into the ignoble, wrong, impure, unlovely, and debased. After all, there’s no story if everything’s just as it should be and everyone’s happy. As Christians, there are times when we need to deal with all the negatives, but that makes it even more important that we practice turning our minds by force of attention to what is noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. It’s just too easy to get stuck in a swamp. With my...
1 comment
Read more

Higher Thoughts

  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the  Lord . “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)           The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,   for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord      so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (I Corinthians 2:15-16) If you read about the ancient gods of the various peoples, you’ll find that they think just like people. In fact, they think just like the sort of people we really wouldn’t want to be around. They think like the most corrupt Hollywood producer or, like hormone overloaded teens with no upbringing.   It’s embarrassing to read. I have a friend who argues that because God is not just like us, He is so vastly dif...
2 comments
Read more

Pure...

            The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (I Timothy 1:5)   I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. (Revelation 3:15-16) I’m probably cheating - or mishandling the Bible, but earlier I was thinking about love being pure and purifying. And hatred being pure and purifying. And anger…joy…patience… fear… jealousy… courage…lust… and other strongly felt feelings, attitudes, and beliefs. Today’s verse brings purity and love together, so it’s the verse of the day, but it’s not really the focus. That means my motive for sharing it with you probably isn’t pure. As you read through my list, you   probably thought, “Yeah” about some, and “What’s she on?” about others. But consider how much hatred, a...
Post a Comment
Read more