Romans 8:35 – “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?”
We know “that everything that was written in the Scriptures was written to teach us” (Romans 15:4) and one of the writers God used to inspire millions across the ages was the apostle Paul. From the time he became a follower of Christ he endured severe and extreme trials. From shipwrecks, to beatings, to being stoned, to hunger, to nakedness, to imprisonment, to death.
He was focused, determined, anointed by the Holy Spirit, knew where he was going, had it so strongly impressed in his entire being the purpose of God through his life, was in a race with the goal to tell as many cultures and peoples as possible about the length, width, height and depth of the love of Christ, knew that all the knowledge he had acquired throughout his academic years did not surpass the knowledge of knowing Jesus.
The presence of God was so strong with Paul that people could not resist when they came in contact with him, and he was able to lead many to believe in Jesus. Whether naked, hungry, beaten up, he knew that the weaker he was, the more he needed to rely on the power of Christ, he knew that the only thing that could keep him going was the grace of God. Paul knew that absolutely nothing in this world could stop him, or separate him – or any of us – from the love of Christ.
“What then shall we say in response to this? If God is for us who can be against us? Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 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.” Amen!
Romans 8:31-39; 1 Corinthians 9:24; 2 Corinthians 11:21-29; 2 Corinthians 12:9-10; Ephesians 3:18; Philippians 3:8
