And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from his love. Death can't, and life can't. The angels can't, and the demons can't. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, and even the powers of hell can't keep God's love away.39Whether we are high above the sky or in the deepest ocean, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39 (NLT)
I remember hearing a story of a young boy who was playing by a lake. A crocodile lunged and grabbed the boy; his mother quickly took hold of the boy by the arms and hung on for dear life. She dug her nails into the boy’s arms; refusing to let him go. The crocodile tired of the struggle and went off for an easier meal. The boy was showing off his scars one day; he pointed to the scars on his legs. “This is where the crocodile grabbed me; he was going to kill me.” Then he pointed to the scars on his arms, “but this is where my mommy wouldn’t let go.”
When we accept Christ into our life we are adopted into the family of God; we become His children (Rom. 8:15 ). Although here on earth we still face danger and persecution, even to the point of physical death; our souls are secure in Him. There is no fear of our salvation in Christ Jesus being stripped from us; God is not in the business of allowing His children to be taken or separated from Him.
Still Satan will try to convince us that we have done too much, we have gone too far; we cannot still be saved. He will whisper doubts in our ears and attempt to sabotage our peace and our witness. He will beat us and bruise us on every side (2Cor. 4:8-9); He may even take away things that we hold dear (Job) but He cannot take away our salvation.
We will go through valleys where we do not feel God; we may not feel saved. However, we can be assured that nothing can take away our salvation; not death, life, angels, demons, friends, enemies, fears, worries, far away places, mistakes, sins: nothing!
When we are saved, God is our father and He is not about to let us just be snatched away (John 10:28 ). Once we are God’s children we do not need to be concerned with our own salvation, we are secure; instead we need to focus on helping others come to Jesus. It is important that we do not take this liberty lightly; but we diligently put our changed life into action; the salvation of other men’s souls depend on it (Phil. 2:12 -15). We may be disobedient and suffer punishment here on earth (just like we punish our children when they disobey), but we will not forfeit or be stripped of our salvation (like a good parent never disowns their children) (Psalms 118:18, 1Cor. 3:15 ).
