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My Papa's Stronger Than Yours

             Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for 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. 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 8:33-39)

Quick note, the verse Paul quotes is Psalm 44:22. But, this is where we come back to yesterday’s question: “If God is for us, who can be against us?” It is also where we come back to “my papa is stronger than your papa” idea. God chooses and justifies. Who has the power to overrule Him? No one.

That doesn’t mean they don’t try. They cause trouble, hardship, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, and wield a sword, but none of those things change our relationship with God. When all that is over, God is still with us. None of the things Paul lists have any power over God. But, as C. S. Lewis points out in The Screwtape Letters, these things can all influence us. Even though they can’t separate God from us, they can separate us from God. That’s why we need Paul’s reminder. 

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