Thought for Wednesday 15 March 2023

 Romans 8:35&37

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 are hungry or cold or in danger or threatened with death?  No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. 

I cannot think of any period of time during my own life when all is well and there is nothing at all troubling us either domestically, politically, locally, nationally or internationally.  There is the terrible war in Ukraine going on just now, but I can’t think of a time when there wasn’t a war going on somewhere.   In years past we had Miner’s strikes and Steelworkers strikes.  Today we have teachers strikes and threats of Nurses going on strike.  We are in the process of choosing a new First Minister while at 10 Downing Street, it seemed at one point, they would have to fit a revolving door, Prime Ministers were changing so quickly. Heads of state change all over the world and occasionally this has been due to assassination.  We have random men walking into schools and killing innocent children indiscriminately.   We’ve had a pandemic that has seriously affected folks all over the world, we are continually being warned about climate change, some people are fleeing persecution and there is much being discussed around immigration.  We have oil producers making massive profits and at the same time, our gas and electricity bills are increasing dramatically. 

Within our national Church we are going through an extremely difficult time, and it is not a pleasant experience for office bearers and members of our Church attending meetings in regard to this issue or hearing about the possibility of major changes from various sources.  The purpose of this exercise as set out, is to have well-equipped spaces in the right places – whatever that means.   We can only speculate how this will all end and what our Church locally and nationally will look like in the future.  As with most change exercises, some will benefit, some will suffer, and some may be unaffected.  Only time will tell how it will all pan out. 

At least we have the guarantee that no matter what we face or what we have to endure, the one constant is that nothing the world can subject us to will separate us from the love of our Saviour.  Blessed assurance and victory over the challenges of this life if we hold fast to our Lord, who loves us with a love that is beyond our imagination. 

Prayer – Almighty and everlasting God, we thank you for your love for us that not only created us but also binds us to you through your only son, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ whom you sent down from Heaven to die on the cross and rise on the third day in order to give us salvation and eternal life. Because your love for mankind is so strong, nothing can ever separate us from you. You have created the heavens and the earth, and all creation bows down before you, and is under your control. Because your love for us is so overpowering and complete, it can never be shaken. Thank you Heavenly Father for this great love. We submit to your Will and your eternal Word, in Jesus’s name we pray. Amen