You can’t make me not love you.

Romans 8:31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? Have you ever said this to anyone? “You can’t make me not love you.” What does that statement mean? We are telling them that we are for them by choice, not based upon anything they do or don’t do. Therefore, we will never be against them. From Rom. 5:1, Paul had been showing the Roman believers that God was for them. If they believed in Jesus, then God foreknew them, predestined them, called them, justified them, and has already given them a place to stand before Him in the perfect righteousness of Jesus, His Son. He has glorified them with Jesus. He is for us! The answer to Paul’s question as to who is against us if God is for us is simple and clear. No one! That is, no one of any significance. We know that the world hates Jesus and us. We know that if they are against Jesus, then they are against us. That is evident as we notice that every policy of the present national governmental administration is anti-God. Everything they are for, God’s against, and everything God is for, their policies seek to destroy. The world doesn’t love us, but God does. And what shall we say to this? What do you say to yourself about the pain and suffering you have experienced and are going to experience in this world? Paul has already said it. The suffering of this world is not to be compared with the glory to be revealed when we get our inheritance. It will be seen that nothing could prevent God’s plan for us, because He has been for us—from start to finish. This informs us as to how we are to relate to one another in the body of Christ. We say to ourselves and to one another, “God is for us, and by His grace, I will always be for you. I will not be against you.” That’s what Jesus says to us, and we are living to love with Jesus, so we can say that to one another. Let’s be on the alert to anything that would turn us away or against another brother or sister in Christ. You know it isn’t from God! There’s nothing they could do that isn’t covered by the blood of Christ, paid for, and removed from God’s view. That’s how it is for you in the presence of God, so that’s how it must be for all who are in the body of Christ. Jesus is our life, and that’s how He looks at us all. He is for us. So pour out His love today with great freedom and joy for the glory of God. Acknowledgment: Music from “Carried by the Father” by Eric Terlizzi. www.ericterlizzi.com