Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution,
or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?
As it is written,
"For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered."
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors
through him who loved us.
Romans 8:35-37 ESV
This passage has always held a bit of difficulty for me...
but I see... maybe... a little more clearly what's being said...
after wading through the whole... bit... by... bit...
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ...?
The One who died for us... loves us...
For God so loved the world,
that he gave his only Son...
John 3:16 ESV
...I live by faith in the Son of God,
who loved me and gave himself for me.
Galatians 2:20 ESV
If He willingly died for our sins...
having all the vile... unholy... acts of the generations...
placed on Him...
what in all creation...
could separate us from His love...?
He knows the worst... and still loves us...
In our humanness... Believers often misread...
tribulation...
distress...
persecution...
famine...
nakedness...
danger...
sword...
as punishment...
If He loves me... Why...?... are bad things happening to me...?
What about Him...?
"Now is the Son of Man glorified,
and God is glorified in him. ..."
---Jesus
John 13:31 ESV
These are Jesus's words...
spoken as soon as the betrayer left the Last Supper...
What came next...?
Arrest...
Abandonment...
False accusation...
Injustice...
Mocking...
Persecution...
Flogging...
Jeering...
Crucifixion...
God the Father... loves the Son...
If through all this... (that from this side of creation seems so unfair... horrific...) He is glorified... could it be... that His love for us... may somehow play out the same way...?
For Your sake we are being killed all the day long...
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered...
This is the verse that gives me trouble...
Yet now... on the eve of Good Friday... I begin to gain a glimpse of the reality...
Through Christ's crucifixion...
death...
He paid the price for all sin...
and for those who believe...
made death a non sequitor...
insignificant...
Therefore... there may be times He uses trials... injustices... horrors... in our lives... not to punish... but to glorify who He is... and us... through our faithfulness... praise... trust... through whatever He allows...
"Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are mine.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through the fire you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you.
For I am the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
Isaiah 43:1-3 ESV
The glory comes... when others see our response...
and perhaps... move toward salvation...
because we willingly suffered...
as sheep to be slaughtered...
for His sake...
Jesus is that Ultimate Sheep...
killed for His sake...
in return for our salvation...
We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed;
perplexed, but not driven to despair;
persecuted, but not forsaken;
struck down, but not destroyed;
always carrying in the body the death of Jesus,
so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.
2 Corinthians 4:8-9 ESV
No...!
We are not just sheep to be slaughtered...
In Him...
we are more... than... conquerors...
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