Romans
8:38-39 (NIV)
For
I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither
the present nor the future, nor any powers, 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.
In 1981 a TV movie called “Peter and Paul”
was broadcast with renowned actor Anthony Hopkins playing the role of Paul and
Robert Foxworth playing the role of Peter.
At the end of the movie, Peter is tied to a stake in a horse-driven cart,
being led to his place of execution where the movie ends with the traditional
view that Peter was crucified upside-down as was his request as he declared
that he was not worthy to die in the same manner as His Lord did. As this is being shown, you hear the voice of
Anthony Hopkins, as Paul, reading the verses from Romans 8:35-39. The combination of the background string
music, Hopkins golden voice and the movie’s message make these words of Paul
sink deep into your soul.
These two verses conclude Paul’s answer to the
question, “Who can separate us from the love of Christ?” (v 35). Here’s a man who both asked and answered this
question who had suffered just about every kind of suffering on earth a man
could suffer (read v 35 again and all the sufferings he lists). How often do you think that Jesus is not with
you or He doesn’t care about you when you have gone through times of suffering
(including perhaps right now)? You may
imagine that He is not with you, but if you believe the Word of God to be true,
then you are wrong, He is always with you.
Nothing that can ever happen in your life can cause a separation between
Jesus and where you are right now and forever. Nothing---and can there be
anything Paul did not include when he uses these descriptors like death nor
life---ever separate you from the love of God through His Son, Jesus
Christ? Pause right now and concentrate
on this truth for a few minutes, can you?
The mother of two teenagers who were innocently
murdered asked me if I could recommend an appropriate verse(s) from the Bible
that she could have inscribed on their tombstones. Of course, my first reaction was to admit
that I did not feel qualified to make such recommendations, but she
insisted. Rather than provide only one
verse, I searched the Scriptures and provided her with several
possibilities. Romans 8:38-39 are the
two verses she told me that she liked best.
For a person who had suffered as much as she had (is there anything
worse that could happen in anyone’s life than to have both of your children in
their teenage years to be murdered?), her selection of these two verses left an
indelible impression on how incomprehensibly deep the meaning of these words
truly are.
Give justice to these truths by meditating on them throughout this day. Does your sense of the indescribable love of Christ deepen within your soul?
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