Justin March leads the Bethany Lutheran Church Men’s Ministry and sends a weekly email message to the Men’s group every week.  Justin has generously permitted us to post his weekly reflections here. 

“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.” Romans 8:38-39

I don’t know about
you, but it is getting harder to find inspiration in the world we are living in
today. Sickness, political strife, warfare, racial tension, unemployment, and
confusion barrage my senses, and finding clarity in the murky waters is not
easy. As I search for the positive messages I desperately need to hear, they
often get lost in the negativity this world wants me to dwell upon. So, as I do
my best to send you a message that I hope is both inspirational and positive, I
must admit the drains of these current events have me at a loss for words.

It is times like these
that it is up to me to seek the messages God wants me to find. If I allow it to
happen, the media will provide me with all the negative gossip, opinions, and
heartache I am open to experiencing. But, if I pay attention to the nature that
surrounds me, the words His followers have written, and the messages embedded
in those subtle places, I begin to understand that nothing can separate me from
the love he has provided in Christ Jesus our Lord.

This was a morning
where I needed to hear His inspirational words. This was a morning where I was
struggling to find them in a chaotic world. And this was a morning where the
thoughts were clouded by news of hatred, violence, and other dire messages.
Yet, as I turned on my computer and googled “positive messages in these current
times” this Bible verse popped up and changed everything. 

What a message this
chapter in Romans provides. It does not matter what is going in our world. It
does not matter that the negativity of our current events is trying to overcome
the positivity we long for. It does not matter that our hunger, our thirst, or
our desire for the truth is being compromised by all the negative messages this
world wants to offer. All it took was a message like the one above. All I
needed to hear was the promise that NOTHING can separate us from the love of
God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. NOTHING.

As I read this verse
from Romans, my hunger is satisfied by the truth it proclaims. My thirst is
quenched in knowing that neither the present nor the future can separate me
from the love God has for us. And my desire to follow His path, rise from the
murk, and become focused on His mission for my life, is enhanced by these
simple words. My friends, it does become harder to find inspiration when this
world bombards us with negativity. My prayer for you this week is that you
carry this verse with you, that you read it when you are feeling stuck, and
that you find encouragement in knowing that NOTHING can separate you from the
love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord!