Romans 9:1-3

Romans 9:1-3

Paul's Continual Anguish

Prepared by Dr. John E. Marshall

 

         It is wonderful to revel in Romans 8, to celebrate God's love for us, but Christianity requires more than self-interest. Due to the grace-gift we have in Jesus, it is incumbent on us to do all we can to share it with others.

         Even as Paul basked in the sunlight of Romans 8, a cloud suddenly darkened his thoughts. His kith and kin were not responding to God's love offered in Christ. Most Israelites were refusing to accept Jesus as Messiah.

         This was almost more than Paul could carry. He bore a burden for his kin, loving them with a love as deep as life itself. The weight was so severe that it brought from Paul one of the most mind-boggling claims ever made.

 

Romans 9:1 I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience

is testifying to me with the Holy Spirit.

 

         The claim coming in verse three is of such staggering proportions that Paul prefaced it with preparatory remarks. Knowing some would challenge his assertion, Paul built to it gradually. He first of all made a threefold oath.

         "I speak the truth in Christ". He spoke as one united to Jesus. "I am not lying". There was no stretching of the truth here; he wasn't exaggerating.

         "My conscience is testifying to me with the Holy Spirit." Paul was confident enough to name the Holy Spirit as a witness to the reality of his love. Based on his threefold oath, we are confident Paul's next statement reflected the true feeling of his heart.

 

Romans 9:2 that I have intense sorrow and continual anguish in my

heart.

 

         Here we find the key that unlocks the secret of Paul's soul winning ability. Paul suffered "intense sorrow", words used of people mourning with a pain that is nothing less than agony. He was tormented by "continual anguish." He bore a consuming grief that was unremitting, never ceasing.

         Paul was a good soul winner due to his burden for the lost. A passion to bring others to Christ should be second nature to believers. Pray God will intensify our burden. It is the main thing lacking in our soul winning efforts.

         God's best servants have always been those whose hearts blaze for people outside Christ. John Knox would pray, "Give me Scotland, or I die."

         John Hyde, a missionary, prayed 4 hours a day begging God for souls to be saved in India where he served. David Brainerd, missionary to native Americans, died of TB at age 29, yet his life was so filled with God's power that John Wesley required all Methodist preachers to read Brainerd's diary.

         Brainerd wrote, "I cared not whether or how I lived, or what hardships I went through, so that I could gain souls to Christ. While asleep I dreamed of these things, and when I awoke the first thing I thought of was this good work. All my desire was for the conversion of the heathen, and all my hope was in God." He worked ceaselessly, though suffering constant fever, cold sweats, nausea, and weariness, plus pains in his head, chest, and back.

         Dying of TB, he agonized on his knees in the snow, praying for the Indians. They long remembered the white man who coughed blood on the snow while praying for them. Brainerd preached standing up as long as he could. Then he preached from a chair. Eventually the Indians carried him on a pallet to their meetings and listened while he spoke from a reclining position. When he became too sick to be carried, he had the Indians come to his house to hear him preach from his bed.

         When his voice gave-way, he whispered his sermon in the ear of an Indian who would then convey the message to all. When they took him to Jonathan Edwards' home for treatment, he wrote letters to the Indians. When this failed, he whispered dictation for letters to them.

         When he could only mumble, those attending him said he was praying for the Indians. Near death Brainerd said, "I declare, now I am dying. I would not have spent my life otherwise for the whole world."

"Sorrow" and "anguish" for the lost are missing today, replaced by cold lethargy. We need the Lord to plow through our complacent souls.

         There is a Heaven to be gained, and a Hell to be shunned. We should live all of life as if hearing the woos of Heaven and the woes of Hell.

         Paul knew how wonderful it is to be saved. This made him all the more aware of how terrible it is to be lost. Paul enjoyed so much in Christ that it made him sorrowful over what his own kindred were missing, sorrowful to the point of being willing to say…

 

Romans 9:3 For I could almost wish to be cursed and cut off from the

Messiah for the benefit of my brothers, my own flesh and blood.

 

         Paul communed so closely with Jesus that he ingested compassion similar to what took Jesus to a cross for people. Paul was ready to stand in the place of Jews and endure their heavy punishment. He was willing to be separated forever from Christ if it would cause the salvation of his nation.

         Paul knew his wish could not be fulfilled. He had just said he could not be separated from the love of God in Jesus (Romans 8:38-39).

Paul also knew he could not be a substitute for the sins of Israel. His words were merely a way of strongly expressing what he felt within.

         Love is not bound by cool logic. I like to say illogical things to Ruth. "I love you more today than yesterday, and yesterday was a record day. I will treasure you till death, and then cherish your memory. I want to be your roommate in Heaven." When a heart is full of love, the boldest hyperboles are insufficient. Paul was trying to describe an indescribable emotion.  

         Paul verbalized one of love's strongest traits, a desire to take suffering into one's own self that it might not touch the beloved. All love is in a way substitutionary. Longing to suffer in place of the beloved is a law of love.

         What parents have not stood by a baby's bed and longed to take the children's raging fever into their own body? What parents would not prefer receiving the knife to having to watch their child be taken into surgery?

         Judah, loving his dad Jacob, begged to be a slave in Egypt in place of his baby brother Benjamin (GN 44:33). David cried, "My son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you, Absalom, my son, my son!" (2 SM 18:33).

         Love peaked in substitution. Moses, Paul, and Jesus are the only 3 men in the Bible who asked God to substitute them to pay for others' sins.

         Moses offered to be forgotten by God if it would keep wrath from falling on Israel. "Now if You would, only forgive their sin. But if not, please erase me from the book You have written" (EX 32:32).

         Paul sensed the nation had again made a deadly error. Israel was once more perched on a precarious precipice. They had again renounced YHWH, this time by building not a golden calf, but a cross. Having rejected God's Son, Hell was gaping before them.

         Moses and Paul understood a need for love expressed in substitution. They wanted to endure the curse that others might escape it, to suffer pain in place of others. Moses and Paul wished to be substitutes, but only One was eligible to do this. The Substitute for our sin had to be pure and spotless; only One fit that description. What Moses and Paul wished to do, Jesus did.

         Focus on Him who did die as our Substitute. May the lost receive His compassion, and may the saved imitate it. Only Jesus can give us the love and salvation we need. Both require a miracle of grace. God grant us a burden that motivates us not only to talk about the lost, but also to the lost.

         We need a heaviness that puts the lost on our prayer list, and us on their doorstep. Love for the lost is soul winning's most effective tool. It drives us to do our duty, and melts the hearts of those we seek to win.

 

Romans 8:38-39

Romans 8:38-39

Palm Reading and Crystal Balls

Prepared by Dr. John E. Marshall

 

         Spurgeon, seeing "God is love" written on a weather vane, told its owner he felt those words were inappropriate to have on such a changeable thing. The man said Spurgeon had misread the intent. The inscription was on the weather vane, not to demonstrate the fickleness of God's love, but to say, "God is love, whichever way the wind blows."

         Amen! No matter what is happening around us, God is love. Our text reminds us, nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

 

Romans 8:38a   For I am persuaded…

 

         "Persuaded" is a heart-word. Paul had confidence, a deep-seated personal conviction, about this matter. It was part of his creed. He had committed his whole being to what he said here. He was sure nothing could separate us from the love of God in Christ. We need this persuasion. It gives us a blessed assurance, a deep-seated faith regarding our spiritual security.

 

Romans 8:38b   … that neither death nor life, …

 

         The love of God in Christ for us cannot be affected by our state of being. Once in Christ, neither the living nor ending of this life can sever us from His love. "If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord" (RM 14:8).

         Death can separate us from the world and cut us off from friends, but its scissors break when it tries to separate us from God's love. In fact, God mocks the gloomy separator by turning it into the vehicle that consummates our communion with Him. The divider thereby becomes the uniter.

Death cannot separate us from the love of God in Christ, nor can anything in life separate us from God's love. Many Christians believe if they die while saved, they are secure, yet fear they may yet fall away in this lifetime. Blessed are they who grasp the truth of our text. However numerous our pains, burdens, disappointments, and temptations, they can never separate us in this life from the love of God that is in Christ.

 

Romans 8:38c … nor angels nor rulers,…

 

         This refers to invisible spirits that surround us. Not even supernatural beings can thwart the love of God for us in Christ; neither good angels, who would not if they could, nor bad angels, who would if they could. Evil spirits are powerful, but impotent when it comes to nullifying God's love for us.

         The good spirits, angels that surround God's throne and minister to us, cannot absorb and intercept all of God's love. There is plenty for all. Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars are nearer the sun and soak in its radiance, but do not keep it from also shining on Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.

         Angels are close to God, and numerous. However, they cannot keep God's love from passing on to those of us on the outskirts of the throng.

 

Romans 8:38d …nor things present, nor things to come, . . .

 

         Time has no bearing on Jesus' love. God knew all about us before He set His love on us in the first place. No new revelations about our character can surprise Him. He loves us despite our sin; time cannot change this fact.

 

Romans 8:39a … nor powers, nor height nor depth…

 

         Height and depth were astrological terms. The former referred to one's "star" being at its zenith; the latter designated it as at its nadir, preparing to rise. The ancients believed stars tyrannized lives. Astrologers were consulted to foretell the events of one's life. Astrology was normal life to Babylonians, Egyptians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Chinese, and Arabs.

         Astrology flourished in Europe. Shakespeare appealed to this ancient belief, calling his tragic twosome Romeo and Juliet "star-cross'd lovers."

         People truly believed a person's life was determined by which way the Zodiac was positioned at the time of their birth. Paul rejected all such nonsense. Stars determine nothing. God created them solely to give light.

Sadly, astrology and its sister superstitions refuse to die. People still seek fate in the stars, read palms, check horoscopes, look in crystal balls, and use charms. God forbid that any of His children should consult such things.

         Anathema on petty fears as Friday the 13th, walking under a ladder, crossing the path of a black cat, breaking a mirror, or stepping on a sidewalk crack. Away with charms: horseshoes, throwing salt over the left shoulder, lucky pennies, and four leaf clovers. A woman recently five leaf clover; surely she will win the Publishers Clearinghouse Sweepstakes. If a rabbit's foot brings good luck, why did the rabbit lose all four of his? If knocking on wood brings good fortune, why isn't a woodpecker King of Beasts?

Such silliness leaves God out of the reckoning, an unspeakable evil. God, not luck or fate, rules Earth. Our life is guarded by God's love in Jesus.

 

Romans 8:39b  … nor any other created thing …

 

         Paul tried to mention every category he could think of: state of being, supernatural beings, time, and astrology. In case he missed something, he added one last catchall phrase. Paul knew human minds are prolific in conjuring up all sorts of imaginary terrors. Our brains conceive all sorts of fanciful disasters, but this phrase gives peace by nullifying all our fantasies.

         Paul won't let doubt gain even the smallest foothold within us. He wants us to be persuaded nothing…

 

Romans 8:39c … will have the power to separate us from the love of

God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord!

 

         Paul took pains to clarify his meaning here. God's love flows from an infinite supply, but in a prescribed channel. Only by receiving Jesus can it be appropriated. Universalism is no option. Jesus embodied God's love. We must drink of "a fountain filled with blood, drawn from Immanuel's veins."

         Some wish to take the heart out of John 3:16, my favorite Bible verse, and make it read, "For God so loved the world that no one shall perish, and all will have everlasting life." No! The verse contains two all-important clauses. One, God's love is seen in His Son: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son." Jesus is the Father's one and only Son.

         Two, God's love can be appropriated only through His Son: "that whosoever believes in Him (Jesus)." Till these two clauses are understood and acted on, we cannot say, "will not perish but have everlasting life."

         We must meet God's conditions, and once we do, our position in His love is secure. Our text brought comfort to the beloved and saintly Robert Bruce of Kinnaird at the time of his death. At breakfast, he asked for his Bible and, his vision being poor, requested that his fingers be placed on Romans 8:38-39. Assured he was touching these words, he quoted them, and said to his family, "God be with you, my children; I have eaten breakfast with you, and shall eat supper with my Lord Jesus Christ tonight." Sure enough, that day he sat at the Lord's table.

Our text provided Robert Bruce assurance. Does it give us the same peace? Do we hear what Paul said? Has our heart embraced his meaning? May God grant us a believing spirit, thereby granting us confident peace.

 

Romans 8:37

Romans 8:37

In Jesus We Win, Big Time.

Prepared by Dr. John E. Marshall

 

Romans 8:37a (Holman) No, in all these things we are more than

victorious…

 

         "No" answered the question Paul raised in verse 35b. Can troubles we Christians daily face separate us from Christ's love? No. However, on the other hand, troubles are not guaranteed to improve a believer's spiritual life.

         Trials are neutral regarding their consequences. They spiritually help or harm based on how we respond to them. The way we set our spiritual sail determines whether winds of affliction drive us nearer, or farther from, God.

         Our text tells us what God expects of us, and has made possible for us. The difficulties of life are opportunities for God's power to be demonstrated in us. In our toughest times, we can best display Jesus' resurrection-life.

         In our daily struggles, God enables us to do more than barely hold on. Unbelievers can do this much. There would be little to celebrate if believers barely won in life. We are to not only hold our own, but victoriously win.

         Face life confidently. We can be more than "victorious". The word implies war, and bespeaks fighting soldiers who are part of a winning army.

         Do not fear a life filled with afflictions. Face it bravely. March boldly. In our daily conflicts, we are more than victorious, for at least four reasons.

         One, we suffer very little loss in the battle. However fierce the skirmishes become, a believer can never experience everlasting harm.

We can never lose anything essential to our salvation. If faithful in the battle, we ultimately lose only what gold loses in a furnace: dross, impurity.

         Earthly conquerors often win at too high a cost, paying as heavy a price to win as they would have if they lost. At Gettysburg, Pickett's men gained the ridge, the high water mark of the Confederacy, but lost too many lives to hold it. Often a leader is killed winning the victory, like Nelson at Trafalgar, and General Wolfe at the Plains of Abraham near Quebec.

         Earthly victors often win only to be vanquished later by someone else. Persia ruled an Empire, but succumbed to Alexander. Carthage controlled the Mediterranean, but fell to Rome. Rome ruled the world, but the Barbarians ultimately toppled it. The Moors had their Tours, the British had a Saratoga, Napoleon a Waterloo, Lee an Appomattox, Hitler a D-Day.

History paints military and political defeat in this world as inevitable, but this is not true in the spiritual realm. Any who know Jesus can never be completely vanquished. Our losses can never be of an everlasting nature.

         Two, we receive wonderful rewards. Our rewards are far greater than anything won by earthly warriors. Our inheritance never fades; our crown is incorruptible. Soldiers here receive human accolades, but these are nothing compared to hearing Jesus say, "Well done, good and faithful servant."

         Another reward is; each victory makes us stronger. Exercise reliance. Winning increases our faith, and prepares us for more difficult conquests.

         A faith never tested remains feeble. Arms and legs unused quickly begin to atrophy. Idleness and ease weaken us; conflict strengthens us.

         It takes a war to make servicemen real soldiers. Similarly, overcoming trials develops our spiritual fiber, and makes us true soldiers of the cross.

         Maybe our best reward is; we can so overwhelm our troubles that they become our helpers. Earthly conquerors suppress enemies, but become more than victorious when they turn enemies into allies. We are more than victorious when we let God use adversities to draw us closer to Jesus.

         Not only can afflictions fail to separate us from Christ's love. They can actually be turned into spiritual benefits. Trials rightly borne do not drive us father away from God, but intensify our oneness with Jesus.

         Temptations overcome cause us to feel closer to Jesus in the trial. Scoffing endured increases our sympathy with Jesus in the Judgment Hall. Sorrows withstood let us commune more closely with Jesus in Gethsemane.

         Thomas Browning, jailed in Charles II's terrible persecution, wrote his flock. "The cup of afflictions for the gospel is the sweeter the deeper." He told them he found the strongest consolations near the bottom of the cup.

         As Browning's persecution intensified, his delight became sweeter. He could echo the Psalmist, "It was good for me to be afflicted" (119:71).

         Three, we win though the battle continues to rage. Earthly conquerors are pronounced victors after their battles end. Their conquest is celebrated in ceremonies after the turmoil is over, but for believers the battle never ends. We continually win victory after victory, but not the kind that end conflicts.

         For us, the battle never ceases to rage. Sounds of triumph and alarm are always heard simultaneously. We win victories, though under duress and constantly being wounded. Just before his martyrdom (107 A.D.), Ignatius said, "It is part of a brave combatant to be wounded, and yet to overcome."

         A noble part of our victory is; it comes despite our injuries. Some of our highest USA military decorations are reserved for those who show valor in battle after being wounded. We Christians should also glory in the fact we are more than victorious because we win though the battle continues to rage.

         Four, we win though we are extremely weak. Lest we grow proud and presumptuous, Paul now mentioned the source of our triumph. We win…

 

Romans 8:37b …through Him who loved us.

 

         In ourselves we are feeble, frail creatures having little strength. Our victory is never won by human energy, but always by Jesus' power in us.

The fact we ever win a spiritual conflict is amazing. Had Goliath beat David, the story would not have been newsworthy; David beating Goliath made it immortal. As believers, our victories over Satan are as remarkable.

         Victory is not in Christians themselves, but rather belongs to the Holy Spirit. We conquer only to the degree we let the Holy Spirit fight through us.

         Without Christ, we can do nothing; but we marvel at what God in us can do. The Spirit makes contact with frail spirits, enabling them to achieve feats impossible before. God stations Himself in our weak lives and defies all Satan's hosts to try an assault. Retain no pride in self. Ascribe all glory to God. We conquer, not because we hold him, but rather because He holds us.

         Notice that in our text the word "loved" is past tense. This means the writer was referring to a past event that provides evidence of a huge love.

We believers know the instance Paul referred to was Jesus' dying on Calvary's cross. The Christ who empowers in us is One who suffered for us.

The pains He endured make Him a Companion to all who are weary. He knows what it means to hurt, and helps us bear our load and overcome it.

Our troublesome road is not quite as rough when we remember Jesus' footprints have preceded us. Christ "Himself has drunk to its bitterest dregs the cup which He commends to our lips. He has left a kiss upon its margin, and we need not shrink when He holds it out to us" (Maclaren).

         Our Master was also our Martyr. He taught us by His example in the cross and resurrection to turn weakness incarnate into strength invincible.

         Blandina, who died in 177 A.D., was a frail teenage slave who refused to renounce her faith despite hideous tortures. People had feared she would recant under pressure due to her being young and weak. Her execution was slow and gruesome. She was wrapped in a net and tossed repeatedly on the horns of bulls, and was forced to sit in a red-hot iron chair until she died.

         Seems a waste, doesn't it? Where is victory here? It's easy to see if we look close enough. Though the weight and might of the Roman Empire were thrown against her, a slave remained unsubdued to the end, awing her tormentors. They returned to their ruler and complained, "We are put to shame, for these Christians mock us while they suffer."

         The tormentors were unnerved by the fact they could not vanquish the spirit of what they considered to be weak men and women. As Paul said, "In all these things we are more than victorious through Him who loved us."

 

Holiness Truly Matters Most

David learned the hard way that holiness matters most. Before the King sinned with Bathsheba, "The Lord made David victorious wherever he went" (2 SM 8:5,13).

David wrongly thought he had succeeded in hiding his sin. "The Lord considered what David had done to be evil" (2 SM 11:27).

David never fully escaped the consequences of his sin. Nathan accurately predicted of the King, "The sword will never leave your house" (2 SM 12:10).

Holiness matter most. Pleasing God in everything we do must be tenaciously practiced by us through the Holy Spirit working in us.

Romans 8:35-36

Romans 8:35-36

The Passion of God

Prepared by Dr. John E. Marshall

 

To show we are secure due to God's master plan of salvation (vv. 28-30), Paul used in verses 31b, 32, 33, and 34 four rhetorical questions to state it is impossible to nullify God's power, provision, protection, and pardon.

Paul now drew his fifth conclusion. It is impossible to nullify the passion of God. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit love all of us unconditionally.

 

Romans 8:35a (Holman) Who can separate us from the love of Christ?

 

         This rhetorical question requires the obvious answer; "No one can separate us from the love of Christ." This is the climax of Paul's arguments regarding our safety due to being saved by grace. From this mountaintop, the apex in his climb of confidence, he looks down on all our enemies and life-circumstances and sees them as helpless to steal from us our salvation.

         Retain your confidence, fellow believers. Between condemnation and us stands an insurmountable obstacle: the love of Christ. No one can ever separate us from His love. Not only can no "one" separate us; Paul used another question to assure us no "thing" can separate us from Christ's love.

 

Romans 8:35b Can affliction…

 

         Can affliction, the outward troubles we face, separate us from the love of Christ? Of course not. They take away our ease and comfort, but cannot take Christ's love from us. Not even life's severest trials can nullify the love of Jesus for us. Therefore, do not let troubles sway us from our confidence.

 

Romans 8:35c  . . .or anguish . . .

 

         Can anguish, the inward suffering brought on by the pressure of life's difficulties and burdens, separate us from the love of Christ? Absolutely not.

When our minds are distressed, not knowing where to turn, does this mean we have been separated from Jesus' love? Never. We may lose our mental stability and emotional bearings, but we can never lose God's love.

 

Romans 8:35d … or persecution…

 

         The world's persecution may oppress us, and separate us from wives and children, but cannot separate us from Jesus' affection. Discrimination may drive us from churches and houses, but can never separate us from God, our everlasting habitation. Though driven from our cities, we have "the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God" (Hebrews 11:10).

 

Romans 8:35e . . .or famine.  . .

 

         Can famine separate us from Jesus' love? No. Hunger brought the Prodigal Son to his senses and reminded him of his father's love. We may lose our daily bread, but nothing can ever separate us from the Bread of Life.

 

Romans 8:35f …or nakedness . . .

 

         Christ's love cannot be nullified even by nakedness and deprivation. We may be stripped of our apparel, but we can never be stripped of Christ's affection for us. His love surrounds us as a garment that can never be torn. We are securely clothed in His righteousness.

 

Romans 8:35g  . . .or danger . . .

 

         Can any danger or hazard of life separate us from the love of Christ? No. However dangerous life becomes, we know God is walking with us through the dark valley. Perils may take away our health and wealth, but they cannot take God's love from us.

 

Romans 8:35h  . . .or sword?

 

         Not even the sword, the violent death of martyrdom, can separate us from Christ's love. Our spirits can be separated from our bodies, but our spirits can never be separated from Christ's love.

         Paul's assertion that nothing can separate us from Jesus' love was not mere speculation on his part. The words of our text were written not by a new recruit, but by a seasoned veteran. He knew exactly whereof he spoke.

The Apostle had already endured six of these afflictions himself, and would finally die by the seventh. Paul in his own life had experienced the truth that nothing could separate him from the love of Christ.

 

Romans 8:36a As it is written: Because of You we are being put to death

all day long;…

 

         This quote of Psalm 44:22 proves God's people have long had it rough in this world. Do not be surprised by sufferings: Our Master himself had to bear a cross. It is naïve to expect only ease in the Christian life. Suffering has always been an integral part of being God's people.

Our afflictions are often actually caused by our loyalty to God—we suffer "because of" Him. We must not view troubles as a sign that God's love for us is diminishing.

The Christian life can at times seem like a never-ending warfare. We are often subjected to ridicule and opposition. Even in the USA, where believers enjoy the world's greatest freedom, persons wholly committed to Christ have to endure at times their share of poking and being ostracized, often from people who claim to be Christians. I hate to admit it, but there are situations where I do not want it known I am a Baptist preacher, because I know it could very easily trigger a negative reaction in some.

 

Romans 8:36b … we are counted as sheep to be slaughtered.

 

         Those who hate God reckon His people as no more than sheep for the slaughter. Through the centuries, in times of persecution, Christians have been killed with no more qualms than a butcher would have killing a sheep.

Lost people have been known to regard us as inept and delusional, and sometimes even as a hindrance needing to be removed.

         May God grant us all the grace to share Paul's confidence in the unalterable love of Christ. Since we feel unworthy of God's love in the first place, we are very susceptible to letting difficulties make us doubt His love.

         We must realize God's love for us remains ever constant. We do nothing to earn it in the first place; therefore we can do nothing to nullify it.

         If we have many material things and physical blessings, this does not mean God loves us more; if there are troubles and poverty aplenty in our life, this does not mean God loves us less. Do not try to measure the love of Jesus by what is happening at any given moment in our life. Instead, measure it by what happened on our behalf at Calvary long ago.

         The love of Christ for us is not diminished by what we suffer. Rather, it is demonstrated in what He suffered for us. Now and forevermore, the cross is the only proof of God's love we should ever need.