ROMANS 8:31-39 What then shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all–how will he not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died–more than that, who was raised to life–is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered ad 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, neither angels nor demons, neither the present not 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.
There was a farmer who had a large rock in the middle of one of his fields. Year after year, he worked around that rock, always growing more distressed by its presence. Through the years, he had broken a cultivator and two plows on that rock, not to mention the loss of the valuable farm land in its vicinity. Finally, he decided to be done with it. He would remove it from the field, no matter how much work it would take. When he put his pry bar underneath the rock, he was surprised to find that it was less than a foot thick. With just a small amount of effort, he was able to loosen it and haul it away in his wagon. He smiled when he thought how he had let that rock haunt him for all those years, not knowing that it would be this easy to remove.
Do you have problems that haunt you? Most people do. All of us have hardships and suffering in our lives. And just like that farmer, most folks let their problems get to them or get the best of them. Your problems may be in your home, family, job, finances, or from any other number of places. Sometimes it even seems as though everything gangs up on us at once, and that there is no escaping your afflictions.
All of the problems that you and I have in this world are the result of sin in our lives. This is not to say that God punishes specific sins with specific afflictions. Rather, we know that problems in general are the result of sin in general. We have all sinned. We all need help.
Today’s passage tells us that God is for us, He is on our side. He is the one who justifies. He did this by sending His Son and promising that everyone who believes in Him as their Savior can claim the righteousness of Christ as their own! This is something secure in your life: when God declares you forgiven and righteous for Christ’s sake, you can be confident that it is true. And He wants you to know that nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
