For us, you are not against us …

Romans 8:31-39

³¹ What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? ³² Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? ³³ Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. ³⁴ Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.

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.

This passage is a familiar and amazing statement of our faith. We have been rescued at a great cost – Christ’s death for us – so there is no way God will abandon us now. His love continues and nothing that happens will stop him loving us.

This means he is not responsible for bad events or situations we encounter in life but he loves us even though we are struggling. An easy life is not guaranteed for Christians, as if our faith was like magic warding off hard times. The guarantee is that God will still love us, just like when he rescued us through Jesus’ death on the cross. That demonstration of his love shows us how much he loves us (v32). So we rest secure in his love even when troubles come. Peterson in The Message version puts it this way – “None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us” (v37). Not fazed? Wow that brings it home! You could say not panicked, not trying to second guess God, not blaming him or getting angry, not knocked off course from following Him by things which happen. Don’t be robbed of the blessing of God’s love in Jesus even when it all seems to be going pear shaped. He didn’t rescue us for that.

“As your love in wave after wave, crashes over me, crashes over me, You are for us, you are not against us … you make me Brave.”

Dear Jesus, I love you. I thank you for dying for me. You showed me the heavenly Father’s love, which never stops, like the waves at the beach. You will be with me no matter what happens. I cant thank you enough. Amen

Written by Claire Moore