Always Loved, Always Valued January 28, 2017

Read: Romans 8:31–39 Bible in a Year: Exodus 19–20; Matthew 18:21–35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?—Romans 8:35 We serve a God who loves us more than our work. Oh, it’s true that God wants us to work to feed our families and to responsibly take care of the world He created. And He expects us to serve the weak, hungry, naked, thirsty, and broken people around us even as we remain alert to those who have not yet responded to the Holy Spirit's tug on their lives. And yet we serve a God who loves us more than our work. We must never forget this because there may come a time when our ability to “do for God” is torn from us by health or failure or unforeseen catastrophe. It is in those hours that God wants us to remember that He loves us not for what we do for Him but because of who we are: His children! Once we call on the name of Christ for salvation, nothing—“trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword”—will ever again separate us “from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:35, 39). When all we can do or all we have is taken from us, then all He wants us to do is rest in our identity in Him. —Randy Kilgore Father, help us never lose sight of the unconditional love You have for us, and let us hold on to that hope when our labor—and the fruit of our labor—are gone. The reason we exist is to be in fellowship with God. INSIGHT: Are you as convinced as Paul was that nothing can separate you from the love of God? Paul was raised with a belief that his compliance with Mosaic law gave him acceptance with God. Yet all of that changed when he discovered that the Jesus he hated was the God who loved him. Through a direct encounter with the resurrected Christ, he learned that the love of God is not earned, but accepted as a gift of grace and mercy (Rom. 4:4-5). It comes to us not because of what we have done for Him or others but because of what God in His mercy has done for us.  Mart DeHaan Share your thoughts on today’s devotional on Facebook or odb.org.

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Our mission is to make the life-changing wisdom of the Bible understandable and accessible to all. Our vision is to see people of all nations experiencing a personal relationship with Christ, growing to be more like Him, and serving in a local body of His family. To read today's Our Daily Bread online visit www.odb.org. Copyright © 2017, Our Daily Bread Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI 49555 USA. Written permission must be obtained from Our Daily Bread Ministries for any further posting or distribution. Scriptures taken from Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved.   Our Daily Bread Ministries | 3000 Kraft Ave | Grand Rapids, MI 49512 Manage Your Subscription.