What can separate us from God’s love? Can trouble, suffering and hard times, or hunger and nakedness, or danger and death? No! 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 God’s love for us in Christ Jesus our Lord! (Romans 8)
There are days in our lives when we all need EN-COURAGE-MENT. Sometimes the rainfall brings nourishment to the soul and freshness to life. Other days it seems to wash away hope and we fear the sun will never shine again. Same rain. Different soul.
The beauty of life in Christ is this… no matter what our circumstances, or how we interpret them, NOTHING can separate us from God’s love. Encouragement is only one of the many blessings we receive as children of God when Jesus is our Lord.
Paul reminded “all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi” of some of these blessings:
….encouragement from being united with Christ,
...comfort from His love,
...fellowship with the Spirit,
...tenderness and compassion… (Phil.2)
Paul then enjoined them to make his joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.
As pilgrims on the journey of life, along a path often punctuated with potholes, God calls us to follow the example of Jesus. What we discover when we attempt to exemplify Christ is this: when we live in love, God lives in us, and God’s love is made complete in us (1John 4). However, when we don’t realize God’s love in us, we are without hope, we have no compassion or comfort and anxiety becomes our companion. We feel alone. Our solitude brings us no solace. We are deceived into thinking that we are on our own on life’s journey. But the One who laid down His life for us, who knows how it feels to be deserted and forsaken, perceives our pain and discerns our doubt. Jesus visits us in our loneliness, breaks through the isolation and is present to breathe new life into our souls. This is the promise of Easter!
It’s because of this promise that we have hope, even if God seems distant. I believe the human soul yearns to be one with God and undivided from God’s love, whether we recognize it or not. Jesus journeyed to Jerusalem, laid down His life, and got up on Easter to establish a new covenant. Next week, as WE make our journey from Palm Sunday to Easter, stopping along the way at the Last Supper and ultimately witnessing the agony of Christ’s crucifixion, may we yet be en-couraged knowing that Jesus journeys with us…both now and eternally. For NOTHING can EVER separate us from God’s love—What an amazing PROMISE!!!
