Conquering Love

Rom 8:37-39 "No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  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."

The world tries to wear us down.  Life is often like the Chinese water torture.  Drop by drop it continuously pounds away at us.  Not the each drop is that big a deal but when it is there minute after minute, day after day, week after week, the accumulation of it all starts to put a dent in our resolve. 

This is the enemy's scheme; to distract us and keep our focus away from God.  If we become belly button gazers and start saying, "woe is me" then the enemy has won.  But we don't have to fall into that trap because He has sent His Spirit that we might be more than conquerors.  God does not want us merely surviving.  He doesn't want us merely getting by.  He wants us to be victors in Christ.

Because of that love, we have the assurance of salvation.  We can rest easy in the assurance that once we have surrendered our lives to God, His love will be more than enough to sustain us and gets us through the attacks of the enemy.  Even more than that, He will lavish His love on us to where we know that our place at His banqueting table is guaranteed.

Notice that all the things mentioned in these verses are external.  That is because if His Spirit resides in our hearts then the core is secure in Christ.  Our shield of faith is in place.  This doesn't mean that there won't be attacks, there will.  What it does mean is that the flaming arrows of the enemy will bounce off and not reach their mark.

There is no place where we can go to escape the love of God.  No created thing has the kind of power that can supersede the power of the Creator.

We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered or, as John Wimber used to say, "I am change in God's pocket to be spent any way He wants".  Suffering is part and parcel of our lives.  It is a constant of the experience of God's people; it has always been and will always be until Jesus returns.  It is just that the suffering just can't compare with the kind of love that was exemplified by Christ's sacrifice on the cross when He took our sin upon Himself to the point of total separation from the Father.

That may not sound like a big deal except when you look at Jesus' words when He says, "I and the Father are one".  It has always been so.  The three persons of the Trinity have been one from infinity and will be one forever.  But for that brief moment when Christ became the sacrificial lamb for all who would call upon His name; in that instant He who had no sin became sin for us and the Father, who is Holy and cannot have anything to do with sin, turned His back on the Son.  For a brief moment in time, that which was perfectly three in one was ripped apart.  It is not that Christ died on the Cross that is significant.  Thousands have died by means of crucifixion.  No, it is the fact that Jesus endured separation from the Father and shed His blood as a propitiation for our sins that makes the event significant.  Oneness with the Father is life to Jesus. 

That is how great His love is for us.