“Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love?” Romans 8:35 NLT
“Extreme experiences will stress your confidence in God’s immeasurable love.”
My thoughts today are about “Biblical correctness.”
There seem a lot of folk who are careful to be “politically correct,” a phrase describing the caution and correctness to provide what they think the right answer ought to be, even if not the real opinion they privately hold and believe. They are simply being politically correct, though not altogether honestly.
I think a lot of church folk do something very similar, being careful to be Biblically correct even when they are unsure personally. Paul asks a rhetorical question in a masterful presentation of God’s love amid the myriad of things that would contest God’s love, a question whose answer he believes is plainly obvious. “Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love?” That should seem at first a very simple question, but even people who can give the correct answer are not always as convinced as their Biblically correct answer might first suggest.
How do you answer Paul’s question? Know this; so much of your spiritual life hinges upon your firm conviction on this matter; your answer touches the realm of your eternal soul. Can you imagine any thing whatsoever, or any time ever, that you fear could separate you from the love Jesus demonstrated on the cross?
Paul lists a catalogue of difficult, everyday experiences that you might face which could make you doubt God and question His love. Has that ever happened to you? “Does it mean Christ no longer loves you if you have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or are hungry or cold, or in danger or threatened with death?” Romans 8:35 NLT.
Here’s what Paul suggests may often seem incompatible with love, but are not: troubles that try the soul, compounding trouble that worsens and multiplies, personal attacks and harassment, absence of necessities, personal suffering, and real and extreme physical danger. Those extreme experiences – thankfully, not everyday experiences – still describe times when you learn what you really believe about God and His love. Extreme experiences will stress your confidence in God’s immeasurable love. That can move you from a polite, political correctness about your faith to a Biblical correctness that fastens to the anchor of truth.
The human experiences identified above are exactly what the enemy of your faith and soul will use in his evil attempts to dissuade you of the steadfastness of the only love that is eternal, untiring and unchanging. Listen to Paul’s conclusion of this, “No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is yours through Christ who loved you.” Romans 8:37 NLT.
My prayer for you today is to trust and rest in a perfect love. See 1 John 4:18 NLT.