Quest 45 - The Prison Of Pain
Nothing can separate us from God’s love.
Nothing. Zilch. Nada. Absolutely nothing.
It really is amazing. Although, it certainly doesn’t always feel that way does it? It’s fairly easy to feel separated from God. Our past seems to separate us from Him. What happens to us seems to separate us from Him. Our responses to situations seem to separate us from Him. What people say about us seems to separate us from Him.
But once again. It doesn’t.
Paul, in full, says it this way, “38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
That right there is humbling. And it should free us to live in an entirely new way because there is true freedom in a life with Christ. From conversations I have had though - there are a lot of people who view Christianity as a world of imprisonment. They believe it is almost constricting where you cannot do and be who you want.
Sure, there are rules and regulations and guidelines. Yet, look at what that scripture is saying….. Death nor life, angels nor demons, fears nor worries, nor powers of hell can separate us from God. That means we are no longer in the prison of pain.
When I think about the plight of human existence, it is centered around pain. Pain is a very real thing for many of us. We do everything we can to avoid it. That’s why we so often take efforts to take matters into our own hands so that we can get away from it. That’s a mistake though. When we do things our way, that brings pain and imprisonment, when we do things God's way we have freedom.
All of the things above that try to separate us from God are things that bring us pain. That’s what life is without God.. pain. That’s why Satan tries to separate us from Him, he wants to bring us pain.
You and I have been there before we have experienced that pain and when we feel it: Pain imprisons us. It seemingly takes ahold of every single part of our lives in every single moment. We want to escape it, but we can’t.
That’s why in this moment, I am thankful for the love that has been revealed through Christ. We can see and experience that love every single day of our lives and there is nothing that can separate us from that. That to me is freedom at the highest level.
We are free from the pain that imprisons us because Christ went to the prisons and broke open the gates. Does that mean we will never face pain again? Absolutely not because we will face pain while in this world because of the effects of sin on all of our lives, but one day, we will be freed from this world and experience the glory and goodness of Christ.
Paul said this right before this scripture, in Romans 8:35-37, “35 Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? 36 (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) 37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.
Can anything separate us from God’s love? No. We have victory through Christ, we have freedom through Christ.