GOD IS FOR US
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Opening Prayer
Thank you, Lord God, for the love that you have made known in and through Jesus, your Son. Thank you, Father, for making your love known to me.
Read ROMANS 8:31—39
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
Romans
Romans 8
31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies.
34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
36 As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered 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 convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,
39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Reflect
What would you say God sees when he looks at you?
It’s as though we’re in court. Paul the advocate is summing up his case: ‘What, then, shall we say…?’ (v. 31). I am reminded of the story of the woman brought maliciously before Jesus, accused of adultery.1 Faced by Jesus, each of her accusers slinks away. ‘Has no one condemned you?’ Jesus asks. In our own lives, we may wrestle with judgments of others, self-condemnation, and the voice of the accuser.2 But before God, no one can condemn us (v. 33). God placed the sentence for our sin on his own perfect Son, Jesus (v. 32). It is finished—and before the ultimate judge, we have been justified (just as if we had never sinned).
More than this, Jesus not only died for our sins; he has also been raised to life (v. 34). Sin has been conquered, and in Christ, resurrection awaits us too. While the Spirit intercedes for us on earth (v. 26), Jesus sits at the right hand of God, interceding for us in heaven (v. 34). In this world, be it sin or other human troubles, we will face ‘death all day long’ in its various guises (v. 36)—but Jesus is praying for us.
What can separate us from his love, then (v. 35)? Paul proclaims and teaches us this glorious hymn that echoes through the ages (vv. 37—39). He is convinced of its truth. Death, life, angels or demons, present or future—however big or impressive—nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord’ (v. 39). There is no condemnation: we have been set free (vv. 1, 2). As we face all these difficult things in our lives, ‘we are more than conquerors through him who loved us’ (v. 37).
Apply
As you meet today’s challenges, remember: God is for you. Nothing can separate you from his love.
Closing prayer
Father in Heaven, please give me strength and wisdom as I share the good news of Jesus with others.
1 John 8:1—11 2 Rev 12:10.
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