“How do we respond to the measureless riches of grace and all the Gospel goodness God has lavished upon us? Since God IS for us—who or what can possibly present a threat to us, or harm us in any ultimate sense?”
Heavenly Father, thank you for Paul’s summary of the Gospel and the rhetorical questions he puts before us in Romans 8. We need to hear the Gospel every day because we forget it every day. And we need you to massage the implications of the Gospel deeper and deeper into our hearts all the time. Indeed you ARE for us. This doesn’t make light of real challenges in life, but it surely shrinks them down to their proper size.
“Since God gave Jesus to us and for us, shouldn’t we be able to trust him for everything else we need? Since God chose us and has already justified us 100%, whose opinion, judgment, or condemnation should matter diddly-squat to us?”
Yes! Yes! Yes! … in full view of your gift of Jesus to us, trusting you should be a “no brainer” for us. But you know we are weak, so refuel trust. And continue to make our hearts soar and sing as you remind us, and re-convince us, of our belovedness to you. Wilt and whither, marginalize and mute everybody else’s opinion about us.
“Jesus lived for us, died in our place, was raised for us, and now is enthroned and interceding for us. Who or what can remotely impact or separate us from the love of Christ? Can trouble, hardship, persecution—or even famine, nakedness, danger, or sword remotely impact God’s love for us? No! 10,000 times No!”
Really hard things can and do happen to us on our way Home. And in our unbelief and weakness, we tend to think these hardships are a sign you’re disappointed us or are paying us back for stuff. Hallelujah, that is NOT true. You love us as much as you love Jesus. Hallelujah. Thank you. And so Very VERY Amen.
