March 3 I Thursday
Numbers 26-28
Mark 8
“What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” —Romans 8:31
If we are in Christ, and predestined to be like Him by an all-powerful, sovereign God, then it stands to reason why Paul would ask, “Who can be against us?” The reality is all kinds of things can be against us, but to what effect? Paul asks another question, “Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen?” (Romans 8:33). The reality is that there are many charges and condemnation that come against us, but to what effect?
The key to our security and serenity in a world where there is plenty working against us is our dependency on God, and knowing that in all things He works for the good. If God is for us, then no one can be against us to any avail because we are on God’s agenda, being molded to the image of Christ who, by His death, burial and resurrection, has already defeated anything that threatens us, including death. Paul writes, “He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all—how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32). God does not leave us unequipped and stranded, but He gives us Jesus through whom we are strengthened and sustained in every hardship.
We all encounter situations of tension and conflict, and we may say, “If God is for us, who cares about anything against us?” But as Christians, we are to live with a disposition of heart that says, “If God is for us, then we are secure, regardless of what comes against us.” The issue is not about conflicts and tensions coming into our lives, because they are parts of life that we all contend with. Rather, the issue is about our response to them. Paul says, “Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us” (Romans 8:34). Our response needs to be one of victory already received. Why? Because God is for us.
Paul then rhetorically asks, “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). He answers, “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (Romans 8:37). Nothing in all creation is able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. It is in a love relationship with Jesus Christ that we are in the hands of an all-powerful, sovereign God who has given us the one unconquerable life that we have in His Son.
Prayer: Gracious God, I pray for all those who have yet to be indwelt by Your life. May Your Spirit draw them so that they will receive You, and know the unconquerable life they can have in You. Thank You, God.
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