Paul writes in the eighth chapter of Romans: “For I am convinced that 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 the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:38-39).
I don’t know why it is that we make the simple hard, why we’re bent on embracing the defeatist attitude that if it is too good to be true, it is. I’m not saying that there are not times in life where the cliché applies, and it would be wise to remember, however, when it comes to our spiritual journey and the ways of God it is 100% false.
Michael Yaconneli in his book Messy Spirituality writes:
“Paul uses lots of religious words here, but the bottom line is we are all stuck with God’s love whether we want to be or not. The words ‘nor anything else in all creation’ mean that nothing can stop God from loving us. Nothing, God just keeps loving us. In modern language, you could say, ‘Neither failure nor poor church attendance, nor inadequate Bible reading and prayer, nor betrayal, denial, doubt, insecurity, guilt, weakness, bad theology, or even losing our temper can separate us from the love of God.’ God loves us when we don’t want God to love us. God loves us when we don’t act like Christians. God loves us when our lives are a mess. God’s love is sticky, resistant to rejection, aggressive, and persistent.”
We are loved with an everlasting love; period. We are loved with a love that will not let us go; exclamation mark! . . . It’s time that we stop trying to convince ourselves otherwise, but instead surrender ourselves over to God’s ever-present love; where we find God calls us Beloved. I look forward to seeing you in church as we grow together in this unconditional love!
Through Christ,
Pastor Doug