Romans 8:31-39
31 What, then, shall we say in response 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, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. 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. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written:
“For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 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.
Reflection:
This is one of those passages that, if depicted in a movie, would be a scene of a team gearing up to win the championship or soldiers gearing up for battle and the coach or captain rallies them to push on toward victory. But more than the hype of a movie, the hope and victory that we have in Christ is our reality as children of God. We can take the exhortations from Paul, “If God is for us, who can be against us? Who brings charges against us? Who is it that condemns us?” May every doubt or thought that tries to draw us away from the Lord and how He empowers us to live, be silenced. The Lord is for us. Nothing will ever separate us from His love. Our Lord Jesus conquered death. There is nothing that He has not conquered in our lives. What great hope, victory and assurance we have through the resurrection of our Lord Jesus.
Responding to the Transmission:
Let’s spend some time thanking and praising God for the overwhelming hope and victory we have in Christ and receiving each of the verses above for our own lives. Let’s also pray for our churches, campuses, and missional groups that we would live in the victory and hope of Christ today and declare that nothing will ever separate us from his love.
