By F. D. Adkins
Have you ever felt alone… completely alone… the kind of alone where your own voice echoes in your head?
Have you ever made a mistake that consumed you with so much guilt you were sure that there was no way God could forgive you much less still love you?
Have you ever felt like life has dealt you so many bad cards that God must have abandoned you?
My friends, the devil wants us to answer ‘yes’ to these questions. The devil wants us to believe his lies, and he can be rather convincing. But if we have truly accepted Jesus as our Savior, nothing, and I mean nothing can separate us from His love. How do I know this?
This week, I continued my study in the book of Romans. Romans 8:35-39 says, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (KJV).
According to this scripture, and we know the Bible is Truth (“All scripture is given by inspiration of God…” 2 Timothy 3:17 KJV), if we have accepted Jesus, nothing can keep His love away from us.
Now, let’s take a look at what these verses do not say. It does not say that we will not face trials, persecution, humiliation, or trouble. If we are followers of Christ, the devil is going to constantly be looking for ways to persecute us. He will stir up the biggest storm that he can muster to block our path, and when we keep going, he will hurl rocks, financial burdens, heartache, and whatever he can get his hands on to bring us down and make us believe his lies. But we know the TRUTH. The Bible clearly states that nothing can separate God’s children from His love. Let me repeat that. Nothing can separate God’s children from His love. This is important. Romans 8:37 states, “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us” (KJV).
In order to not be separated from God’s love, we must have accepted His free gift of salvation. We need to be sure that we have opened the door and asked Jesus to come in because there is another group of verses in the Bible that plainly details our two choices.
“Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power” (2 Thessalonians 6-9 KJV)
Let’s make sure we have chosen to follow Jesus. He has paid our debt. Our ticket to spend eternity in Heaven with Him has been bought with His blood. But we have to accept it.
