| NOTHING SHALL SEPARATE US FROM THE LOVE OF CHRIST By: Jerry S. Maneker “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 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.” (Romans 8:35, 38-39) The Apostle Paul makes it clear that, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God….” (Romans 3:23) This assertion mirrors that which is found in the Old Testament when Isaiah wrote, “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags….” (Isaiah 64:6) Given the tremendous gulf that exists between the holiness of God and our miserable shortcomings, can anything separate us from the love of Christ? In the Scripture passages that preceded this article, Paul gives the unequivocal answer of “no!” Yet, we are to strive to do our best by presenting our “…bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (Romans 12:1-2) However, these strivings avail us nothing in and of themselves, as our only holiness comes from God’s imputation of holiness to us. Only by trusting God in all matters in our lives can we please Him! (Hebrews 11:6) There is absolutely nothing that can separate us from the love of God! Our failings, sins, sin-nature, instabilities, sufferings, or anything else can ever shake us loose from the firm grip that God has on each and every one of His children. God is not a game player, whereby He saves you and has the Holy Spirit indwell you, and then tortures you with guilt and demands perfection. Moreover, to demand such perfection or holiness in oneself is in and of itself sinful, in that it vitiates the grace of God. Many cults fall prey to this type of thinking, in that they feel that they can work their way to heaven, or that they can please God more if they act “righteously.” Nothing could be further from the truth. Only God is perfect and only He is holy! When we strive to do good, show forth mercy, love, empathy, and compassion to others, we exhibit our faith in the One Who saved us from the wrath of God. Period! Forcing ourselves to be anything other that what and who we are, thereby becoming inauthentic, avails us nothing and may actually inhibit God’s working through us sinful crocks of clay, in that we look to ourselves rather than to God for our reality checks. Absolutely nothing can get us out of the will of God, unless we neglect to act on the fact that our only righteousness is His righteousness; neglect to constantly recognize His sovereignty in every aspect of our lives, regardless of our sins, sufferings, and disillusionments. Reason plays no role here! It is by faith in the One Who called us to Himself, and faith in His many promises as contained in Scripture to those who love Him, that make us “right with God.” That, and nothing else! The people who are separated from the love of God are those who were not His possession to begin with! They are the ones who seek to add to God’s grace by their good works that are of their own making; who renounce the One Who called them, thereby committing the unpardonable sin; who return to their own vomit by looking to the world, the flesh, and the devil as their sources of strength and to which they worship. (2Peter 2:20-22) It is highly questionable that these people were ever Christians in the first place! Goethe wrote, “Two souls, alas, are housed within my breast.” (Faust) All of us, Christians and non-Christians alike, recognize that we frequently want to do what we think is right, yet we fall far short of the mark. This falling short of the mark is the definition of “sin.” The two souls housed within each of our breasts are God’s righteousness and our own sinfulness. God, through the shed blood of Jesus enabled us to be saved from the consequences of our sins and sin-nature by enabling our spirits to be housed with God while our corrupt souls still reside in our “old man.” Our reconciliation with God, attained through the covering of Jesus’ Blood, puts us squarely in God’s will! The Christian recognizes that nothing takes God by surprise, and He knew when He called you out to be in His family, His Church, what you would do in your life. He knew all the sins you would ever commit! Most importantly, however, He knew when He called you out from the world what He would do in your life! The Good News of the Gospel is that our sins are not the main issue with God. If they were, who could stand? What is the central issue with God is our abiding faith in Him and in His sovereignty. By taking our eyes off of ourselves and our imperfections and trusting that God knows what He is doing in each and every one of His “called out ones,” His “ecclesia,” His Church, we can be sure that nothing can separate us from the love of God. |