Thought for Friday 17 February

 Romans 8:35-39

³⁵ Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves

us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? ³⁶ (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) ³⁷ No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.  ³⁸ And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. ³⁹ No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Today’s reading is a wee bit longer than the usual offerings, but it is all relevant and meaningful and we should try to digest each word and just give them a chance to sink in to our very being and it also ties in with the theme of love for this valentine week.

Martin Luther once said; ‘The Bible is alive, it speaks to me: it has feet, it runs after me; it has hands, it lays hold of me.’  All these things, the bible can do, but only if we read it, open our hearts and minds to it and ultimately, let it.

It has been pointed out in these articles before that life isn’t easy.  It can be full of disappointments, sadness, heartache and pain and it was like this for Paul who penned this piece of scripture.  Paul gives us the assurance that if we look to Jesus and persevere with our trust in him, all the doubts, difficulties and dangers will be overcome and, at the end of this race (which is life itself), victory will be ours.

In verse 38, Paul takes this assurance to an even greater level when he says that neither angels, demons or the powers of hell itself can separate us from the love of God through Jesus Christ.  There are situations in this life that can challenge our faith that are obvious and others that are less so.  These verses make it clear that there is nothing known or unknown that can separate us from the love of God.  

When we are going through some of the difficult times in this life, all we need to do is to speak to Jesus through prayer and ask for the strength to deal with them.  In the words of an old hymn we don’t hear too often these days; ‘ask the Saviour to help you, comfort strengthen and keep you, He is willing to aid you, He will carry you through.’

Prayer – Thank You, Heavenly Father, that nothing at all can ever separate us from Your amazing love and eternal grace, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Sometimes, we imagine things that will separate us from You, and yet Your Word clearly tells us that there is nothing at all that can remove us from our relationship with Christ Jesus. Help us to accept this truth in our hearts today, and never more doubt Your love for us. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.