Have you ever felt as if the world is against you?
It might start with a lot of small things not going your way.
You run down your street, but you still miss your bus.
You bake some cookies, but the timer doesn’t go off and they burn.
You write an assignment and then your computer decides to go crazy and you forgot to save it. Urgh.
Sometimes it can seem worse than that. We can feel like God is condemning us. Our sin can sometimes make us worry that God couldn’t possibly love us.
What does God think of you?
Do you ever get concerned that you’ve stuffed up one too many times? When you imagine God looking at you, what do you think he sees? A failure? A mess up?
Paul writes in Romans 8:31: “If God is for us who is against us?”
The ‘if’ there is not a question. Paul isn’t wondering if God is for us. He means since God is for us. God is for us. So, who can be against us?
But how do we know he’s for us?
Verse 32: “He who did not withhold his own son but gave him up for all of us…”.
That’s how we know he is for us. That’s how we know he loves us.
Who is against us?
What this means is that if God is for us he can’t be the one who condemns us. And if God doesn’t condemn us then we don’t need to condemn ourselves. So:
Who is against us? No one.
Who will bring any charge against us? No one.
Who is to condemn us? No one.
Who will separate us from Christ’s love? No one.
Why?
Because if God is FOR us then anyone who stands against us stands against God.
He is the one who “justifies” us Paul says. And that word “justifies” is legal language. It is what a judge does in a court case when he declares the defendant to be in the right.
This changes everything
Imagine this. Paul is describing a courtroom scene… and we are standing in the dock. We are the accused.
What should happen here? You’re standing before God and you already know that you are guilty. But God is the judge and he is for us. If you have Jesus as your Lord, God is for you.
The searcher of hearts knows our sin. God doesn’t despair at it or deny it. He doesn’t look at your sin and think that it’s too big. He doesn’t pretend your sin doesn’t exist.
God deals with your sin. He sent Jesus to take your place. This changes everything. God condemned Jesus when he should have condemned you.
And if you trust that Jesus has done this for you, you can know that God is for you.
We can acknowledge our sin. We can repent of it. Knowing that nothing will separate us from the love of Christ.
What God thinks of you
So, when God looks at you what does he see?
He doesn’t see a failure, he doesn’t see someone who’s made one too many mistakes. He sees a beloved son or daughter who he has made and who he loves.
Do you feel like the world is against you? Sometimes life feels like that. But guess what? God is for you.