3D Devotional 6.28.19
Romans 8:28-39 NRSV
28 We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.
29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified.
31 What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? 32 He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else?33 Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. 35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The love of God offers itself as the key to the truest mode of knowing- knowing about God, knowing about other people, knowing about the world, and knowing about oneself. Through painful experiences we have learned that when someone offers us something for nothing, we need to be suspicious of their motives. On those occasions we learned that those expressions of love are often a cover for manipulation and exploitation. However, what this passage would teach us is that the love of God is the deepest truth in the universe. Therefore, to trust this love is to open ourselves- not to manipulation or exploitation- but to a richer and fuller humanness, including suffering, than we would ever know. It is to share in the loving liberation and remaking of the universe itself. It does not offer a shallow trust of any person or proposition that come along. The love of God proposes a deep and hard-won trust, a knowing that is born of being loved and of loving in return.
In this passage we have the greatest exposition of the victory of the God of love over sin and its consequences. We would do extremely well to apply this to the places in the world, and in our lives, where sin still reigns in death.
God, who loves us way beyond our understanding, help us to trust your love that is victorious over the sin in the cosmos and in us. Amen.
Ken Casey
28 We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.
29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified.
31 What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? 32 He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else?33 Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. 35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The love of God offers itself as the key to the truest mode of knowing- knowing about God, knowing about other people, knowing about the world, and knowing about oneself. Through painful experiences we have learned that when someone offers us something for nothing, we need to be suspicious of their motives. On those occasions we learned that those expressions of love are often a cover for manipulation and exploitation. However, what this passage would teach us is that the love of God is the deepest truth in the universe. Therefore, to trust this love is to open ourselves- not to manipulation or exploitation- but to a richer and fuller humanness, including suffering, than we would ever know. It is to share in the loving liberation and remaking of the universe itself. It does not offer a shallow trust of any person or proposition that come along. The love of God proposes a deep and hard-won trust, a knowing that is born of being loved and of loving in return.
In this passage we have the greatest exposition of the victory of the God of love over sin and its consequences. We would do extremely well to apply this to the places in the world, and in our lives, where sin still reigns in death.
God, who loves us way beyond our understanding, help us to trust your love that is victorious over the sin in the cosmos and in us. Amen.
Ken Casey
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