“No power in the sky above or in the earth below – indeed, 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 8:39
I had done something bad. Consumed with guilt, It stayed on my mind for several days. Finally, I mustered up the courage to tell my father what I’d done. “Dad, I have something to tell you,” I tearfully said. “You’re probably going to hate me, but here goes. I was the one who put the scratch on the car. I was riding my bike, lost my balance, and the handlebars went down the side of the car door. I’m so, so sorry, I know how much you love your car.” I was waiting for him to start yelling at me, reminding me for the thousandth time how I wasn’t supposed to be riding my bike near the cars in the driveway. But that’s not how it went down. He picked me up, sat me in his lap, and said, “Hey, it’s okay. But why would you think I would hate you for that? Son, there is nothing you could ever do to cause me to not love you. Never forget that, okay?”
I kept that promise. Even later on during my teenage years when I became more rebellious and insubordinate and he didn’t seem quite as understanding, I would remember that day years earlier when he showed me what true love and forgiveness really meant.
Make no mistake, my father loved me, without condition.
Friend, no matter what – God loves you. And He loves you despite knowing all that you’ve done in your past, and He loves you despite knowing all that you will do in the future. There is nothing, no power in all creation, that can separate you from our Father’s love. Sure, He expects us to obey and do our very best to live right and treat others well. And yes, there are consequences when we fail to do these things. But He is a loving Father who is always eager to forgive when we humble ourselves and confess to Him what we’ve done wrong.
No matter how far we stray from Him sometimes, His love is truly inescapable.
Former Blackout Artist 