Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

It's tempting to think, when we're having a tough time - 'where IS God?', or 'if He was real He'd be doing something about....' 

It seems natural for us to question things when we do not understand what is happening. 

Paul, a guy we read about in the Bible, has a different stance. Yet, he probably has more reason than most of us to question God's motives. He gets; shut up in prison, is persecuted, suffers pain, loneliness and hunger. However, he asks a different question. Not, where is God? or what is He up to? but, 'who shall separate us from the love of God?'

The first word in that question interests me, 'who', not, 'what'. 

Could it be that when we question what is occurring in our lives, when things seem depressing, distressing and disagreeable that we are the 'who' getting in the way of the love of Christ?

If it is us questioning God, then surely it must be us, our minds that are causing the separation between us and God. It's not God's fault, inability or inaction that causes it, neither is it the situation itself.

Paul tells us that tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger and sword cannot separate us from the love of Christ! So, what does? or who can? 

I think we need to take responsibility. Now, I know that the devil works pretty hard to damage our opinion of God, and he whispers lies and deceit in our ears at any opportunity, but don't we have the right to decide what we listen to? don't we have the capacity and the authority to decide who is influencing us?

God is not distant, He loves you, His son even died to restore you and your relationship with God. That's an incredible love!

There is nothing on God's part that is wrong when things seem to go wrong, so who is it that can separate us? 

In the depressing, distressing and disagreeable times, are you diligent in your relationship with God? Do you still put Him first? Do you run to Him? do you spend time with Him? or does that go by the wayside?

Whose responsibility is it to ensure that you remain connected and not separated to the love of Christ?

It doesn't matter what is going on,  'Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture' can separate us from the love of Christ. None of these things. (Message version) 

So, next time you face a difficult situation, consider; who shall separate us from the love of God?' and let the enemy do his worst, stand firm in your relationship with God. Take responsibility and make the decision that you are not going to let the circumstances around you affect the certainty of the love of God - it's much bigger, much stronger and more enduring than anthing you are going through.

Romans 8:35-39English Standard Version (ESV)

35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written,

“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
    we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 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.

Reconciliation

Romans 5:10 

 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life

Enemies - this implies not just that we were not God's friends, but that we were against Him and actively fighting against him. The dictionary defines an enemy as someone who is actively opposed and hostile towards another.

So, whilst we were actively opposed to God, whilst we were hostile towards Him, He reconciled us - He restored a relationship with us. We didn't even want it or deserve it, but God did it anyway, eventhough we have been actively against Him. 

(I don't know you, but I don't know many people that would fight that hard for a relationship with me!)

Why would any of us do that? Do we work to restore our relationships? 

In life, if someone is against us, we usually either; ignore that they exist, avoid them or fight back.

These people are hard to love. 

Why would anyone act differently? 

Why did God act differently?

He didn't fight back, ignore us or avoid us. Instead, God looked for the root cause of the problem in our relationship. He found sin, and did something about it. He rectified what was in the way of us and Him so that we do not need to be enemies anymore. That cost Him.

I wonder what would happen if we did the same? If there's someone who we feel we are enemies with, instead of fighting/Ignoring/avoiding them, I wonder what difference it would make if we made an effort. If we took time to look at our relationships and see what was causing the problem and then chose to face it instead of letting it fester. It will cost, it will probably hurt and may even be difficult, but God has done this for us. Shouldn't we do the same? 

Rejoice, I say again, rejoice

Romans 5:2-3

we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings'

'we rejoice in our sufferings'

This seems to be a bit of a theme in the New Testament, and it's not just Paul that mentions it. James also says, 'Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds'.

It seems that when Paul and James amongst others were writing to encourage the churches, that their attitutde was different to ours. Nowadays we see pain, suffering and difficulty as unecessary, usually inconvenient or a punishment. 

Paul and James have a different outlook. 

In Romans, Paul lets us know that, 'we rejoice in our sufferings'. So, it is not something that he is commanding or encouraging people to do, it seems like it is their response, 'we rejoice' isn't an instruction but rather written as if it is a fact. It's not singular either, so it must of been a common attitude from those Paul was around. 

Paul alse says they, 'rejoice in hope of the glory of God'. These people, these christians, seem to celebrate the hope they have in God just as they celebrate suffering. 

These people clearly have a different response to suffering compared to us nowadays. Why is that?

Have we become so comfortable in our daily lives where, to be honest, there isn't much suffering or reliance on God required? Most of us around the world expect to eat today, to have fresh water and have a roof over our heads in some form. We are comfortable, we have come to accept and expect a degree of comfort. Suffering and hardship doesn't seem to feature too much.

Yet, these people, rejoiced in sufferings. Their lives weren't easy, they lived with the tension of whether today was the day they would be thrown in prison, mocked or beaten just for being a christian. Yet they rejoice.

In these days as christians, we may mention that they believe in God to our friends and family, even workmates, but most of us try to keep it light. We don't want to get involved in a theological debate, so we emphasise that it is 'our' faith, 'our' belief, a personal decision that we can keep to ourselves. 

I don't see those in the Bible doing the same. 

We can argue that there could be some fall out if they declare Christ and are overt in their faith. We could lose our job, fall out with friends and family. This may be true. 

But, isn't this how it was in the New Testament? 

Paul and others declared who Jesus is regardless of the fall out. The consequences for them are much harsher than the consequences we could face. For most of us, if we do share who we know God to be, it may affect our employment, it may cause some estranged relationships, but will we endure prison? will we be beaten? will we lose our lives? 

In some countries, this is still a horrifying reality, but even there, you see christians motivated by something stronger than the fear of persecution. 

The suffering and difficulties that these people, past and present go through does not affect their attitude, as this seems to be based on something other than circumstance. 

As Paul says, 'we rejoice in hope of the glory of God'. Maybe it's this that we are missing out on. We rejoice, enjoy and are satisfied in the comfort that this world offers; the stability of a good job, the comfort of a warm bed, the satisfaction of a great meal. 

But, do you realise these are all temporary? These things will not last in the age to come. Paul, and the New Testament christians have their hope in, 'the glory of God'. Not in the glory of this world. 

So, let us decide to do the same, rejoice not in the things of this world which are temporary and will fade away but rejoice in the God who has been here for eternity. He is the one that can satisfy our desires, cover our weaknesses and bring the inner peace to the turmoil of the heart. Let us set our minds on God, learn to enjoy the trials and learn from them. 

Become stronger in faith through the struggles of life because they are reasons to rejoice (even if we don't enjoy them).