God For Us, Christ In Us

Recently I was in Kolkata, India. A group of us went to 
visit the grave of Ralph Blackman, a Nazarene 
missionary who died of small pox, nearly 100 years ago. His
grandson, Franklin Cook would go on to lead the Eurasia Region years later. 
I believe this missionary knew that nothing could separate him from the 
love of Christ. 

Scripture:

Rom. 8:31    What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? ³² He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? ³³ Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. ³⁴ Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us.^{a  35} Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ³⁶ As it is written,

“For your sake we are being killed all day long;

we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.”

³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹ nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Observation:

Paul is now referring back to Chapters 5-8, and poses rhetorical questions. He is reminding us in verses 31-34 that God is for us. It is through the work of Jesus Christ, God’s son, that we have been provided with everything that we need to get through this life. In the end, judgement will come, but any indictment brought against us will fail, for we have been justified by the work of Christ, who will answer for any charge brought against us. 

The second part of this, verses 35-39, celebrates the love of God, in Christ, for us. Here we see that separating us from the love of God is as impossible as bringing a charge against us. Even though we may face suffering, we are conquerers because of the one who loves us. Although we may face spiritual warfare, we cannot be separated from God’s love. There is no power in heaven or on earth that can separate us from the new regime where God’s love in Christ reigns over us and our lives. 

Application:

This formula of “God for us” and “Christ in us” should be quite transformational in our lives. Paul certainly found this to be true as he faced many difficulties in life. He was speaking from experience when he mentioned death, life, angels, rulers, things present, things to come, power, heigh, depth — etc. that were simply unable to separate him from the love of God. Why? Because he knew that God was for him, and Christ was in him. This was the glue that held his life together. 

The focus of Paul’s life was not on his circumstances, but on his relationship with God in Christ. When numerous challenges are thrown at us with rapid speed, it’s easy to get our eyes off of the Lord. Suddenly it is the reality of death, or new life, or the worry of things that will come that can take us off track. I went through a season in my life where I thought that good leadership was thinking through every possible outcome in the situation, good or bad. The problem with that was, it took so much energy imagining every bad outcome and a possible solution, that it took away my focus on what was important. I realized that I had to step back and allow myself to think on the Lord, and his leading in all things, and yes, even to allow myself the joy of thinking about the good outcomes. After this time I read a book in which it said that this strategy of thinking through the outcomes sets us up for failure, because the chance that the worst case scenario comes true is minute. Too much time and energy go into the negatives, and not enough on the positives. Paul wants us to see the positive in life — even when it is a huge challenge. 

We live our lives differently when we rest in the confidence that God is for us and Christ is in us. In the midst of demanding circumstances we can trust in the love of the Lord to see us through. 

Prayer:

Lord, I praise you that your love is greater than anything that I might face this day. Amen.