“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor 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: 39)

St. Paul, a man in whom loving kindness was rarely observed until after his conversion, wrote these words. He wrote other words, too, about love, that have become a priceless part of the Christian message: “And now abide Faith, Hope, and love, but the greatest of these is love.” ( 1 Corinthians 13:13) Paul knew and experienced thelove of God in Christ in such a way that it reshaped his character, and made him a “new creation: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold all things have become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

Immediately after Paul’s conversion on the road to Damascus he began to understand the change that his experience on the road would be for him. In the course of his post conversion life, Paul experienced an astounding number and kind of hardships: “ Five times I received the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked. I spent a night and a day in the open sea. . .” Paul’s life could have seemed out of control, full of danger and unexpected disasters, yet he wrote the words above, of Romans 8:39. How is it possible that he could believe that nothing could separate him from God’s love? The answer was simply that the love of God in Christ for Paul is the very cement that holds life together. His list of terrible things that happened to him continued as he hung between life and death on several occasions, yet the cement held. Better than wealth, or influence, better than good health or even close friendships, Paul experienced and knew the love of God in Christ. It was food and clothing and shelter to him, even as Jesus told us all: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. . . Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me.” (John 6:51, 57) The Love of God in Christ is the true cement that never cracks or breaks up, but continues to strengthen souls today as He did St Paul’s. He holds eternal life securely, and never slips away. The cement is a Person.

Love in Him,

Prue