Saturday, July 25, 2015

Today’s Reading  |  Romans 8:31b–39
What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (NRSV)

Reflection
In the midst of what is considered one of his finest epistles, Paul delivers one of the best articulations of the power of God’s love. It is a love that neither death nor the events of life can break, a love challenged not by what surrounds us in the present nor what will surround us in the future. This passage is a common reading during funeral services at Fourth Church and many other churches—after all, it beautifully expresses our trust and hope even in the midst of death—but it would be a shame to limit the context of this passage to that of one of God’s beloved children passing away. Instead, this passage has as much as to say to us in the present as it does to all our brothers and sisters who have gone before us.

It can be tempting to look around in our lives, particularly during times of hurt or loss, and to feel as though God is absent. But Paul reminds us in this passage that no matter what is before us, no matter what circumstance we are in, we are surrounded by God’s love and grace even when we aren’t able to sense or recognize it. Paul’s letter to the Romans is thought to come from the end of his career, after he would have endured terrible hardships—imprisonments, shipwrecks, floggings, and other misfortunes—but when he looks back in this passage he is nonetheless convinced that God’s love and grace had followed him every step of the way.  We may not have the same unshakable courage and conviction of Paul—who does? —but I believe his words are true for each one of us: nothing can ever separate us from the love of God.

Prayer
Dear God, I am grateful for your ever-present love, even in those times when I do not feel it with me. May that love and strength carry me today, and may it continue to carry me tomorrow. Amen.

Written by Matt Helms, Minister for Children and Families

Reflection and Prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church

Devotion index by date | I’d like to receive daily devotions by email