The Security of the Love of God

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” —Romans 8:35

This is a question without an answer.  Absolutely nothing can “separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:39). God’s love is invincible, immutable, unconditional, unstoppable, and unshakable. Unlike human love that is fickle, God’s love is constant, eternal, and perfect.

Some of the saddest words I’ve ever heard in marital counseling is when one spouse turns to the other and says, “I don’t love you anymore.” I’ve heard it more times than I care to remember.  When I hear someone say that, I can only rejoice that I will never hear God say those words.

Notice, Paul asks, “WHO [not what] shall separate us from the love of God.”  There there an antagonist and his name is Satan. Satan will use hard circumstances like tribulation, distress, persecution, etc. to tempt you to question God’s love.  He whispers, “If God loved you, you wouldn’t be suffering these things.”

It’s a LIE!  Circumstances have nothing to do with God’s love. When everything seems to be going wrong, God still loves you. When everything seems to be going right, God still loves you.

Picture a straight horizontal line across a graph—That represents God’s unwavering love. Now, consider a wavering line cascading up and sometimes dipping below the horizontal line of God’s love. That line represents our conduct and circumstances.  God’s love is steady and unchanging, while our behavior has its ups and downs.

Dear friend,  Nothing can stop God from loving you!  Why? Because God’s love has nothing to do with you!  God’s love isn’t based on YOU, or what you do (or, don’t do).  It is based on JESUS—“the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:39).

Pastor George Matheson was born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1842.  Due to an illness he went blind when he was 18.  Despite his blindness, he graduated from the University of Glasgow and later from seminary.  He pastored several churches in Scotland.  Matheson wrote the beautiful hymn which begins with the following verse—

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.

To watch the complete sermon this devotion was adapted from, click this LINK.