The Wednesday Word 4.06.2022

 

Romans 8:38-39 NLT

“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 is one of the passages in the Bible that has most shaped the last twenty-some years of my life. From Verse 28 on, this book succinctly says more to me about God than just about anywhere else in the Scriptures. We are loved. Period. No matter what.

What this passage does not say is that bad things won’t happen. There will be pain and anguish, war and death in this world. This is mostly on account of the fact that the world is full of people. There are people for whom evil is a preferred course. There are people who make mistakes, intentionally or otherwise. Sometimes cells just mutate or bugs invade and disease happens. This is life in the material world.

Why, then, do we bother? We can embrace life and find goodness because we have that inseparable bond with our Creator. This unbreakable bond exists even if we are the reason for the bad things that have happened. “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding…,” described in Philippians 4:7, is available regardless of your circumstances. It is all waiting for you: courage, strength, perseverance, kindness, compassion, joy. Forgiveness. Grace. You can try to learn to love as God loves and to act as Jesus taught us. This life will take on all new meaning and you will be one step closer to Him…something to pray about.

Don’t forget to look for the Lord today. Vicki H.


                                                                                        photo by Simon Berger

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