The Inseparable Love of God (1) [ Romans 8:38-39 ] Why can nothing separate us from the love of God? 1. Because God’s love is eternal. Romans 8:29a says: “For those whom He foreknew…” The word “foreknew” refers to before eternity began —before the creation of heaven and earth . The phrase “those whom He foreknew” does not simply mean knowing about someone intellectually, but rather loving them. In other words, it refers to “those whom God loved from eternity past.” Amos 3:2a says: “You only have I known of all the families of the earth.” If “known” merely meant intellectual knowledge, that would imply that God only knew Israel and did not know the other nations—which cannot be true, because the all-knowing God lacks knowledge of nothing. Therefore, “I have known you only” means “I have loved you only.” God loved Israel among all the nations of the earth. Hosea 13:5 says: “I knew you in the wilderness , in the land of great drought.” The “wilderness” was where the Israelite...
In our sight, there was
nothing about Jesus that would attract us to him.
“For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, And like a root
out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty That we should look
upon Him, Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him"
(Isaiah 53:2).
To us, Jesus appeared without elegance or majesty; nothing about his appearance made him desirable. In today's terms, we might say Jesus lacked any charm, so we paid him no attention. But this was only in our sight. How then does Father God see Jesus?
In Father God's sight, Jesus is beautiful. Why is Jesus beautiful to God? Because Jesus obeyed God's will, even to the point of dying on the cross (Philippians 2:8). Therefore, the obedient Son, Jesus, is beautiful in the eyes of God the Father.
The beauty of Jesus' disciples lies in obeying the Lord's words. Though we may appear weak and lacking in worldly charm, our beauty before God lies in our obedience to the Lord's words. Even as we face
persecution in this world, like Jesus, we can draw strength from God's comfort, living in obedience to His will. Although outwardly we may not seem appealing to the world, as disciples of Jesus, we should pursue inner beauty. Apostle Peter admonishes in 1 Peter 3:3-4, "Don’t be concerned about the outward
beauty of fancy hairstyles, expensive jewelry, or beautiful clothes. You should clothe yourselves instead with the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God."
May we cultivate the inner person of great value before God, striving to be beautiful in His sight through
obedience.
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