85 Most Read Bible Verses---#68---Romans 8:38-39

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 produced with renowned actor Anthony Hopkins playing the role of Paul and Robert Foxworthy 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 works of Paul sink deep into your soul.  

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.

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---can 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?