Dangers of Life


 

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God this is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39

Some people talk about faith as fire insurance and there are far too many “Christians” who claim to love Jesus simply because they fear hell. None of us seem to have any trouble understanding that death has the potential to separate us from a lot of things, including God. Most people I know have some fear of death, whether it's the process or the outcome.

Life is a different story. There are bumper stickers, t-shirts, posters and so many other little trinkets that advertise, “Life Is Good.” Well, I beg to differ. Life can be good but often it's hard, stressful, scary or even just blah. Life is life, God is good. Still we hear people talk about milestone birthdays or about getting older in general and we often hear, “well, consider the alternative.” For me, that alternative is heaven, so I probably miss the point. My point here is that we ought to be as concerned with the dangers of life as we are of the idea of death.

In Romans Paul says that neither death nor life can separate us from the love of God. God's love, thankfully, will not be taken from us. That is amazingly great news. However, life can distract us from God, from His love, His guidance and His purpose. We can choose to be separated from God or at the least to shove Him to the background while we enjoy that “good” life.

God's love is huge. I love this verse from Ephesians, “And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.” Ephesians 3:17b-18. I don't want to be separated from that love and I am so thankful for the promise in Romans that says nothing can separate me from it. Still, like all other human beings I live with the potential to ignore it. I can walk through a day and not acknowledge that I did so by God's grace, given out of that vast, unending love, love that I will never fully understand.

Don't let life pull your attention away from God's love. Life can't separate you from God's love but it can surely distract you. Once distracted most of us tend to think we're doing things on our own and that's where our trouble starts. Return to your first love (Revelation 2:4-5) and stay there. It's the best way to be.


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