31 What then shall we say 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 with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? – Romans 8:31-35 ESV
There is no longer any condemnation hanging over the heads of those who are in Christ. We now live according to the law of the Spirit, not the law of sin and death. As a result, we are free to say no to sin and walk according to the Spirit, in newness of life. We are now sons and daughters of God, awaiting the inheritance we will receive when Jesus returns to establish His earthly Kingdom. Paul reminds us that our future glorification awaits us, making any suffering we endure in this life pale in comparison.
So, Paul asks, “What then shall we say to these things?” (Romans 8:31 ESV). What should be our response to these marvelous truths? If God is the one who called us, justified us, and will one day glorify us, what do we have to fear in this life? If God refused to spare His own Son, but instead sent Him to die on the cross in our place, why would we ever think He would abandon us or turn His back on us?
We must constantly remind ourselves that “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8 ESV). We didn't earn God's love; it was a gift of grace and mercy. And there is nothing we can do that will ever cause God to fall out of love with us. We can't lose it or have it taken away from us. Our circumstances, no matter how bad they may be, are never an indication that God has fallen out of love with us.
According to Paul, nothing can ever separate us from the love of God, and no one can diminish or negate the love that Christ showed us by dying on the cross for us. There is nothing we will ever go through in this life that will ever lessen God's love for us. Which means we should never allow anything that happens in this life to cause us to doubt His unconditional love.
Paul asks the rhetorical question, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?” (Romans 8:35 ESV). The New Living Translation puts this verse in words we can understand: “Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death?”
When we view life from a temporal perspective, we risk misinterpreting God's actions and involvement in our lives, leading us down a path that ends in doubt and disappointment. “After all,” we surmise, “if God really loved me, He would not have let this happen to me.” But if we keep our faith future-focused and recognize that God's will for our lives culminates in our future glorification, we will realize that His love for us is unstoppable.
Present problems are no match for future-focused faith. Which is exactly what Paul meant when he wrote his second letter to the believers in Corinth.
That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever. – 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 NLT
Paul told the Philippians believers, “I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us” (Philippians 3:14 NLT). He lived his life with an attitude of expectation and intentionality, claiming, “I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me” (Philippians 3:12 NLT). So should we. Jesus died so that we might be saved, but also so that we might be glorified. That is the culmination of God's glorious plan for us.
God has already justified us and declared us as righteous before Him, because of what Christ has done, and not because of anything we have or have not done. So if someone brings a charge against us, God's response will always be, “They're righteous!” If anyone attempts to condemn us, God will simply respond, “Their debt has been paid!” If something unexpected and unwanted happens to us, God will still declare His love for us.
We should not spend our lives seeking to experience our best life now; instead, we should keep our eyes set on the future reward that God has promised us. God's best is yet to come. Any pain and suffering we experience in this life only enhances the glory of what awaits us in the future. God loved us enough to send His Son to die for us, and one day He will send Him back to get us. Jesus promised it.
“Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.” – John 14:1-3 NLT
His work is not yet done. God's plan is not yet complete. Our glorification has not yet happened, but it is as good as done because God is faithful and His Son will complete what He began. Which brings to mind the words of the hymn, "O Love That Will Not Let Me Go."
O love that will not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe,
That in thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.
O Joy that seekest me thru' pain,
I cannot close my heart to thee;
I trace the rainbow thru' the rain
And feel the promise is not vain
That morn shall tearless be.
– "O Love That Will Not Let Me Go”, George Mattheson, George Miner, ©1997 Christopher Miner Music
Father, Your unfailing love is hard to fathom. I seem to have the capacity to fall in and out of love all the time. My love ebbs and flows and is usually circumstantial in nature. If someone does what I like, I find it easy to love them. But if they disappoint me or do anything I find unloving, my love for them diminishes. Sometimes I don’t even know I am doing it. But Your love never fails. Your love is not fickle or based on my loveability. After all, You loved me when I was mired in sin, and You still love me after all the unloving things I have done. And Your love did not culminate at my salvation. You continue to love me and are graciously sanctifying me, and, one day. Your Son will return for me. Then I will experience the glorification You have promised. So, no matter how darks things might become in this life, You have a bright future in store for me. And like the hymn states, I am able to “trace the rainbow thru’ the rain and feel the promise is not in vain, that morn shall tearless be.” Amen
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.22