Who

12/1/2015

Romans 8.31-35 31 What then shall we say 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 with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? – St. Paul

I think the question of who ought to be proceeded by the phrase: If not God, then who? Much of life on this planet wants little to do with Him who created it. There is much conjecture that the One who did, isn’t the One who is…something or someone else must have happened. That is the lie that pervades mankind. Their choice.

But there are those who are determined that He who did, is He who does; and what then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? Truth is, many are against us, but with God, who can prevail? That’s the reality. Multiplied millions deny Him but it is only He who guards and protects His children against those who durst deny Him and His children in their belief.

He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things? What things? Does God just give His own a pad of blank checks? Is it name it and claim it? No, all He has and is He gives to His own. Heaven waits for those who stand on these promises; the promise is not for presents, but presence. God told Abraham: I am your very great Reward. God gives His own Himself.

So, who brings an argument against that!? Nobody. Who can tell God what to do and with whom? Nobody. Who is to condemn God’s children for standing on the promise of God, our very Great Reward? Nobody. Jesus is the One who set all this in motion – who is it that can stop it? What in the world, or who in the world can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus? Vlad? The Ayatollah? Barry? Francis? Name someone with the power and wherewithal to stop what God is doing and nullify what God has done and for whom? Name just one.

And who or what shall separate us from His love? Circumstances? Situations? People? Places? Problems? Poverty? Pain? Peril? No. One. Nothing shall separate us from the Love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Our problems ought to teach us, if nothing else, about His great love for us. All of these negative things (if we durst call them that) are part of this world but not part of the next. It is the promise of the next that nullifies the who, the now. If not God, then who?

Father, thank You for the reminder today that nothing will separate us from Your love, and all the things we think are problems are really pointers pointing back to this great truth: Nothing will separate us from Your great Love. Ever. For that I am glad. Amen.