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FALL 2003
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SCRIPTURE STUDY
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BY RON LONDEN
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Beyond breach
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“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 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 that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
— Roman 8:35-39
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ven though the floor in front of the stage was nearly full, Joe White addressed the men still in their seats. “I want you – every one of you – to look to the man to the right and to the left. You say to them, ‘If
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you want to go settle it with Jesus and give your heart away tonight, I’ll go down there with you.’ And if the man next to you wants to come, put your arm around him and walk down here and come to the cross with him.”
The aisles of Baltimore’s First Mariner Arena filled again with the second wave of men responding to Promise Keepers invitation to come to the cross. That night, more than 1,300 men responded. During some other events during this year’s conference season, one in four came to Christ.
Or, in many cases, came back to Him.
Considering the amazing response of these men, as well as the demographics of these events, many of those who respond must be men who’ve endured years of self-imposed separation from God. We can walk away from God. At times, we can run away. But no matter how far we run, we can never get far enough away to escape the reach of His magnificent love.
When Paul promised that nothing can separate us from the love of God, he spoke with a language so colorful that it sounds like exaggeration. But Paul might have been giving nothing more than a personal account of his own experiences (see 2 Corinthians 11:23-27).
To the modern ear – perhaps thinking wishfully – this passage might sound like a promise that God would somehow protect us from these dangers. In fact, Paul was suggesting – as Jesus had earlier – that we ought to expect them. But none of these dangers is enough to separate us from God and His love. Indeed, throughout scripture, we see God using these very things, in different measure, to purify us in a refining fire of experience.
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“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything (James 1:2-4).”
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To the modern ear – perhaps thinking wishfully – this passage might sound like a promise that God would somehow protect us from these dangers. In fact, Paul was suggesting – as Jesus had earlier – that we ought to expect them.
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As no doubt happened before that night in Baltimore, God will also use our struggles to pull us back to Him, as a means of closing the separation that we create, once again crossing a breach between man and God.
If my comfort gets in the way, I must be made uncomfortable. If I am self-reliant in my confident stride, then I must be made to stumble. If my pride is a barrier, then my pride must fall.
After all, if he were not starving for the food he was feeding to swine, would the prodigal son have returned home to his father?
(For more information about Promise Keepers, please visit their web site at www.promisekeepers.org.)
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The Pepperoni
effect
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Michael macor
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Beyond breach
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