Who Shall Separate Us From the Love of Christ

Rom 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Rom 8:36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
Rom 8:37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
Rom 8:38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Rom 8:39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.


If we believe in God, truly believe we have to believe God will NEVER leave us, and that NOTHING can ever separate us from the love of Christ, NOTHING.


Tribulation- Great affliction, trial, or distress; suffering: the tribulations of the persecuted.
Distress- To cause strain, anxiety, or suffering to. To constrain or overcome by harassment.
Persecution- To oppress or harass with ill-treatment. To annoy persistently; bother.
Famine- Severe hunger; starvation
Nakedness- Having no clothing on the body; nude.
Peril- Imminent danger. b. Exposure to the risk of harm or loss. Something that endangers or involves risk.
Sword- An instrument of death or destruction


Reading through this list of things that could possibly come our way reveals how horrible it can be to live a life in Christ and STILL NOT be separated from Christ's love. Yet why do we get it in our heads that if we love God we won't suffer, or shouldn't suffer. That if God loves us then we won't have to go through any pain, horrific pain. Read that list again:


Tribulation- suffering. Distress- anxiety, suffering, harassment. Persecution- oppressed, annoyed, bothered. Famine- starvation. Nakedness- no clothes. Peril- danger, harm, loss, risk. Sword- death, destruction.


We don't believe any of that should happen to us if we love God, that we have the right to question God's love for us if we are called to go through severe suffering. We can let all that or any bit of it separate us from Christ, that's what Satan wants and any who try to convince you that Satan is just a made us boogy man, I say that you can't believe in God and not believe in Satan, the Bible is clear on the matter of His existence- the father of lies, the prince of this world, the dragon- he is very real and while you might think that the common person isn't of interest to Him that would be a mistake. Every human being is of interest to him. He would have each and every one of us on His side and separated from God and he will do everything he can to separate us, he will use EVERYTHING at his disposal. I've had some tell me that Satan is just an illusion and people use the idea of him to get away with their own evil. He's not an illusion. He is among the principalities, the powers, the creatures that will try to separate us from the love of Christ.


We have to cling to Christ through it all. We have to realize that life is like a rubber raft trip down a river. You're going to have calm traveling but you're also going to encounter amazing rapids such that threaten to toss you from the raft and separate you from it so that you drown. Christ is that raft and we have to cling to Him at all times. We have to hold on to Him in the calm and in the raging river. We are on that 'white water rafting trip' for life. We will only reach the shore when Christ returns or the sleep of death claims us and we sleep in Christ until He returns. It's a lifetime trip without any separation from that raft. If we think we can reach land and tie up the raft and go off exploring we are wrong. When we leave the raft we leave our protection, our source of eternal life. People think they can leave the raft, they believe they can go off without Christ in their lives and still have eternal life in Him. As long as we love God and have faith and hope in Him we can survive anything in Him without being separated from Him. When we lose hope and lose faith in Christ we are in danger of separating ourselves from Christ. Christ doesn't leave us when we go through trials and tribulations, we leave Him, we question Him, our faith crumbles.


I don't know when the next tribulation will hit me, but I know it will. It might be something outrageous or it could be something small and unassuming yet still a trial that will come trying to separate me from Christ, but I pray that my faith and hope remain by the grace of Christ, through the Holy Spirit.


Read this again...


Rom 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Rom 8:36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
Rom 8:37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
Rom 8:38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Rom 8:39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.


May this be our belief, our heart felt belief that nothing separates us Christ's love, nothing! By the grace of God, through His righteousness, His love now and forever, by His forgiveness.


Amen.