Some wonderful friends of mine have recently gone through the process of fostering and adopting. Our church supports both local and international children’s homes that seek to provide a safe place for children out of broken family situations. The stories of neglected, abused, and unloved children are chilling and devastating. I cannot personally relate to being unloved as I grew up in a wonderful, loving family. But I’ve talked with people, as I’m sure you have, that have never experienced unconditional love. Lack of love breeds distrust and fear. When we don’t see that God loves us unconditionally, we tend toward fear. In Romans 8:31-39 Paul acknowledges the common fears of condemnation and separation. Not experiencing love highlights these fears. But Paul’s main point in Romans 8 is the Father’s grand declaration of love—sending Jesus to address our personal sin, our relational separation, and our eternal condemnation. Jesus came so that we could be adopted into the Father’s family (8:15) and experience true love. Paul declares further that nothing—nothing that causes us to fear—can ever separate us from the love of God. God’s true love casts out fear. I don’t know your past or your struggles. I don’t know your fears. But Paul stridently affirms that no tribulation, distress, persecution, lack, danger, death, power, authority, ruler or anything in all of creation can separate us from God’s love (8:35-39). Paul’s list is intended to be exhaustive in the sense that no fear remains that is greater than God’s love. We must then learn to bask in the glorious, overcoming, wondrous love of God. How? Walking in prayerful, humble relationship with God is the only way to experience God’s relational love. And when we do walk with God, we can experience victory over fear.

Originally published as a Sunday School Lesson for the Biblical Recorder here.

This lesson was originally published here at the Biblical Recorder online.

Imagine that you decided to take a fishing trip on the ocean. Suddenly a terrible storm came up and capsized your vessel leaving you stranded and clinging desperately to the ship’s driftwood. Finally, after several hours holding onto the driftwood, the Coast Guard arrives and casts you a life preserver. What you do is obvious. You take hold of the life preserver and receive the rescue you’ve been offered. You would be ludicrous to cling to your driftwood in rejection of life preserver that represents safety. Saving faith parallels this story. In your past and mine, we held on desperately to some form of self-righteousness or blatantly sinful driftwood. But when we realized that permanent rescue from our sin was only available through Jesus, we received offer of salvation. We put our faith in the cross as our rescue from death to life. Saving faith is victorious not because it is great faith, but because the object of saving faith (Jesus) is never failing. The book of Hebrews details the uniqueness of Jesus as the fulfillment of the Old Testament Law and the substitute/redeemer of mankind. Jesus is victorious. Our part in experiencing the victory of Jesus is faith. Like we did when we trusted in Jesus as our Savior, we need to continue in faith. Initial saving faith is permanent and eternal. Losing faith or walking in fear and doubt do not mean we lose our salvation. However, many of us fail to experience daily the victory Jesus has already won because we don’t walk in faith. Are you experiencing victory in your Christian life today? If not, examine whether or not you are holding on to some form of self-righteousness or sin (like the driftwood) that is taking the place of expressing continual faith in Jesus. Victorious living is possible if we will only trust in the victorious Christ.