| “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?” |
| —Romans 8:35 |
These days, breakups seem to be as much a part of falling in love as the falling in love itself. As a “sometime romantic,” it always makes me feel sad when a couple who appear to truly love each other decide to go their separate ways.
One of the great mysteries to me, and I’ve alluded to this in previous blog posts, is the ultimate actions of Christian college classmates of mine who seemed so very much in love during their college days. They married soon after graduation. They began their careers, or enrolled in graduate school. They started a family. And, they seemed to be living in harmony and building a solid life together. Then, something happened. Sometimes it happened in just a few years. But, sometimes it happened after fifteen, twenty, or twenty-five years, or even more. After forming what seemed like a very loving and committed relationship, they divorced.
I’ve never had the courage to actually ask any of these dear ones what happened. It’s obviously none of my business. And, in most cases, they were not truly close enough friends that I could justify intruding on their privacy—they are just people that I greatly admired, mostly from afar. In every case, though, they seemed to have a clear personal testimony of the life-transforming power of Christ. But, for some reason, their mutual faith and God-breathed love simply could not hold them together.
Can love really last? Can love endure the hardships along the road of life? Can love actually become a permanent reality?
From a purely human standpoint, perhaps not. But, what about from a spiritual standpoint? Can God’s love endure? That’s exactly the question the Apostle Paul poses to the Christians gathered in the church at Rome, as recorded in Romans 8:35:
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
In tomorrow’s blog post, we will read Paul’s answer. It’s a very reassuring one. But first, as we move out into a new day, we ought to pause and consider how the enduring love of God affects the love we have toward others. Should the permanent nature of God-breathed love guide the permanent nature of our own love? That’s something worth thinking about as this day unfolds.
Based on a blog originally posted on Thursday, May 25, 2017
