For Your Sake

This morning my devotions took me to one of my favourite chapters in the Bible: Romans 8. This chapter is packed full of encouragement! I love it and usually walk away from it thoroughly encouraged ready to take on whatever the Lord has in mind for me, hopefully in His strength.

But this morning a portion of it caught my eye and it's right in the middle of the last part where it talks about not being separated from the love of God. In verse 36 there is a quotation from the Old Testament, Psalm 44:22:

          "For Your sake we are killed all day long; 
        We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter."

Do you see what that says? WE ARE KILLED ALL DAY LONG - WE ARE... SHEEP FOR THE SLAUGHTER!

Let me go back a little. Verse 35 says,

      "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
    Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or
     famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?"

I went slowly through this verse and I realized each thing was getting a little worse than the one before. But then you go on to the next verse. I am supposed to be willing to die every day for His sake. Living in North America I don't "see that need." I have all the freedoms I want, especially the freedoms of worshipping Who I want to worship, when I want to worship and where.

Why would He put that there? Because I need to be willing to die for His sake. Die to this world, die to me, and if need be, litterally let my life be taken for Him. Because His love is worth it. In this same chapter He tells us that we have NOT received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but the Spirit of adoption so that I can call Him my Daddy.

This chapter IS full of encouragement, but it also tells me the road is not easy. I shouldn't expect an easy life. I was not born for that. But I was born to be His child and NOTHING can separate me from His love. So when the hard times come, and they do (and in fact are here now), I can rest in His love and be at peace tho the world around me is in chaos and my body itself is failing. He is faithful! And He loves me!