02/14/Su – The Glory of God, The Love of Christ

NT: “Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Can affliction or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: Because of you we are being put to death all day long; we are counted as sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (‭‭Romans‬ ‭8:35-39‬ ‭CSB)

Challenges in life are inevitable. God doesn’t shelter us from challenges because we need challenges to grow. Challenges strengthen our faith… challenges promote endurance, patience, and maturity. As we undergo challenges, we can be assured of this: as we are in Christ, the Christ in us will never abandon us. He loves us. He loved us and loves us so much that He died for us. If He went to the grave and back again for us, then what challenge could possibly come that would cause Him to abandon us now? If anything, our trials and tribulations actually draw us closer to Christ as we grow to know Him in suffering. As we remain in Christ and He remains in us, we are not conquered by anything. Instead, through His love-compelled grace, we become super conquerors – conquering trials and tribulations again and again as we become transformed more and more into His glory. In Christ, challenges don’t weaken us, they prove His strength. Once we are Christ’s, nothing can separate us from the ever-faithful, never failing, eternal love of God that is found in Christ Jesus. What a wonderful truth for this Valentine’s Day of 2021.

Psalms: “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the expanse proclaims the work of his hands. Day after day they pour out speech; night after night they communicate knowledge. There is no speech; there are no words; their voice is not heard. Their message has gone out to the whole earth, and their words to the ends of the world.” (‭‭Psalms‬ ‭19:1-4‬a ‭CSB)

All of God’s creation – not just the worlds that call earth home – but all of the created universe declares the unimaginable and indescribable glory of Creator God. In David’s time astronomy was not nearly as advanced as it is today. All that David knew was what he could see with his naked eye – the sun, the moon, and the stars – and that blew his mind. Imagine what David would have thought if he considered the galaxies that exist beyond our own Milky Way… or if he considered the vast and complex microscopic and submicroscopic worlds of atoms, nanoparticles and DNA. Creation testifies to an amazing God without even uttering a single world – and it is that God who expresses His faithful undying love to us through His Son, Jesus Christ.

Proverbs: “Instruct the wise, and he will be wiser still; teach the righteous, and he will learn more. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” (‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭9:9-10‬ ‭CSB)

The beginning of wisdom is to humble ourselves and recognize the complete holiness and indescribable glory of God our Creator… that the Holy and Glorious God is worthy of our honor and our respect. Understanding comes as we come to know God and realize that the Holy, Glorious and Awesome God loves us and that we can trust Him with our lives.