Word for the day by Christian Education Forum
True Worship that Liberates
Sunayana Thomas
Carmel MTC, MA
35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will
hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or
sword?
Over the past year and a half, I have fully learned the true meaning of this beautiful passage. It has been an exciting, yet scary time for me. ELATED to begin my life with the partner that God had truly chosen for me. STRESSED during the planning phase of the wedding but above all it was the ANXIETY and the AMBIGUITY of moving across the country leaving my family and everything I knew and loved, to begin my new life. I kept all these worries in prayer and I felt God’s presence comforting me. And then, only one week after the wedding, my Dad was diagnosed with cancer. I felt that my whole life had come to a standstill. Many questions ran through my mind to which I had no answers. I became emotionally and physically drained.
One year and five months later, it is hard to believe how much I have changed through the entire experience. Through God’s grace, my dad is cancer free. I am living with my husband, found a new job and establishing my home and family. Through this hardship, I have felt God strengthen me and my faith. God is and always will be our rock, our security, and our confidence that make us “more than conquerors” in this world.
Paul writes this letter with confidence and assurance through his own trials and tribulations for the Christian community in Rome, during the hostile period between Jewish and Gentile Christians in the church. He asks these questions with a definite answer to erase all doubt you may have in your faith, to give us the assurance for our salvation and to make us more like Christ. We are reminded through the verse, “For I am persuaded that not even death or life, angels or rulers, things present or things to come, hostile powers, height or depth, or any other created thing will have the power to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord!” The passage is about confident praise. Being confident in the work of God’s plan in your life. Being confident that he will always be there for you. To always have faith and not be discouraged or separated from God through our hardships or norms of this world. When we face adversity, many of us question God’s hand in our life just as I did. Even with our doubt, he consistently delivers us from the difficulties of this world. Faith is our victory. Have faith that perseveres through every storm. God wants us to have a hope that is steadfast. “Christ Jesus is the One who died, but even more, has been raised; He also is at the right hand of God and intercedes for us.” Through his sacrifice we are justified and sanctified.
Over the past year and a half, I have fully learned the true meaning of this beautiful passage. It has been an exciting, yet scary time for me. ELATED to begin my life with the partner that God had truly chosen for me. STRESSED during the planning phase of the wedding but above all it was the ANXIETY and the AMBIGUITY of moving across the country leaving my family and everything I knew and loved, to begin my new life. I kept all these worries in prayer and I felt God’s presence comforting me. And then, only one week after the wedding, my Dad was diagnosed with cancer. I felt that my whole life had come to a standstill. Many questions ran through my mind to which I had no answers. I became emotionally and physically drained.
One year and five months later, it is hard to believe how much I have changed through the entire experience. Through God’s grace, my dad is cancer free. I am living with my husband, found a new job and establishing my home and family. Through this hardship, I have felt God strengthen me and my faith. God is and always will be our rock, our security, and our confidence that make us “more than conquerors” in this world.
Paul writes this letter with confidence and assurance through his own trials and tribulations for the Christian community in Rome, during the hostile period between Jewish and Gentile Christians in the church. He asks these questions with a definite answer to erase all doubt you may have in your faith, to give us the assurance for our salvation and to make us more like Christ. We are reminded through the verse, “For I am persuaded that not even death or life, angels or rulers, things present or things to come, hostile powers, height or depth, or any other created thing will have the power to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord!” The passage is about confident praise. Being confident in the work of God’s plan in your life. Being confident that he will always be there for you. To always have faith and not be discouraged or separated from God through our hardships or norms of this world. When we face adversity, many of us question God’s hand in our life just as I did. Even with our doubt, he consistently delivers us from the difficulties of this world. Faith is our victory. Have faith that perseveres through every storm. God wants us to have a hope that is steadfast. “Christ Jesus is the One who died, but even more, has been raised; He also is at the right hand of God and intercedes for us.” Through his sacrifice we are justified and sanctified.
PRAYER
Heavenly Father, we
thank you for your love. Thank you so much for these truths that our faith can
anchor onto. May we stand on this rock and strengthen our faith. Help us to be
confident not in ourselves but in our salvation. Thank you for giving us hope and
confidence in the midst of a fallen world. I pray that we truly recognize the
unconditional love God has for us and not separate ourselves from it. In Jesus
name we pray, Amen.
THOUGHT
FOR THE DAY:
If God is for us, who can ever be against us? - Romans 8:31
If God is for us, who can ever be against us? - Romans 8:31