To Encourage You

Romans 8:37-39 “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

How strong is the love of God for those who have believed in Him?  It is so strong that no matter how great we may imagine it to be, it is even greater, still. The Bible is filled with this awesome truth, for God would have us to revel in it, but it is something that takes faith to comprehend, for so often our experience presents powerful arguments against it. 

You see, every believer has an enemy. He’s the “accuser of our brothers” (Revelation 12:10), and just as he attacked our Lord, he’s also hard at work to defeat the Lord’s followers, if only he could. Just as he unleashed a flood of woe on the godly Job, he so often unleashes circumstances in today’s believers’ lives that can cause doubt, fear, and anxiety, unless we continue to believe.

Romans 8:37-39 speaks to this in wonderful terms.  It contains a list of things that can cause the believer to doubt the love of God. It’s a list compiled by the apostle Paul, who faced as many threats to his faith as any of the rest of us ever will, yet he was convinced that God’s love would never fail him, and he wants all the rest of us to be just as convinced as he was.

The first two things he mentions in this list are “death nor life.” This speaks to all the situations and circumstances one will personally ever face.  Death: It’s perhaps the worst thing that can happen to anyone, but it will happen to everyone. It’s the greatest unknown thing among all the unknowns in the human experience. A diagnosis of terminal cancer; phobias about flying, or heights, or storms, or a million other things; uncertainty about what comes after death; and so many other threats we face in life find their ultimate power to overwhelm us in the fear of death. Yet, for the Christian, it is death itself that is the ultimate victory.  It is the knowledge of what our loving Savior has promised us that assures us that “to be absent from the body (is) to be present with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8). The believer knows that “to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” In fact, it is because of the believer’s love for Christ that he or she can actually look forward to death, rather than to fear it, for to “depart and be with Christ” is actually far better than to live on and on in this sin-cursed world (Philippians 1:21-23). The believer knows, because He believes the One who has told him or her so, that “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints” (Psalm 116:15).  

But for those currently enduring hell on earth, perhaps it seems like death is the better option. Yet, no matter what circumstances we face in life, no matter how desperate, no matter how it may seem that God just isn’t there, God’s Word assures us that He is there, and His love surrounds us and will keep us, no matter what.

Life for the believer: it’s a day by day walk of faith in the glory of knowing that the Lord will meet him or her every need, will walk with them through every issue of life, and loves them with the infinite love of their Father in heaven. Death for the believer: that wonderful moment when faith becomes sight, when he or she knows as they are known, and when they no longer look through a glass darkly but see their Lord face to face.  Death is something that can never separate the believer from the love of Christ. Rather, it’s the pathway to experiencing all its wonder in a way that is beyond anything they’ve yet known. No, nothing can separate us from the love of Christ – nothing in life and especially nothing in death, for it’s in death that we will be united with Him as our faith, however wavering, becomes sight (1 John 4:18).