Romans on Fearfulness 8:38

⁸ For I have every confidence that nothing—not death, life, heavenly messengers, dark spirits, the present, the future, spiritual powers, ³⁹ height, depth, nor any created thing—can come between us and the love of God revealed in the Anointed One, Jesus our Lord.      –Romans 8:38-39 The Voice

Saint Paul makes this  list of things that  people are very  fearful of…the arbitrary hand of an IRS audit,  state police pull overs and random checks; the destructive relationships  of codependency, narcissism (controlled by inordinate love of self and fear that it is not reciprocated) ; the various morbid  addictions (alcoholism, gambling, drug addictions, uncontrollable shopping splurges, and of course  hookups ( sex not for the joy of sex, but the joy of bragging, I did him/her and nothing more).)   All these are  done because someone or something else is in control — the need to prove yourself  and say “Hey I got that..I did that…is a lethal validation.

Paul lists is full of  transitory and consumptive states.   You don’t realize it  initially but over time  you do as you know you cannot function with or without them you become  too scared to look in a mirror because there is a wrinkle that must be excised & that means that the cosmetic you bought didn’t work…you are too worried to meet people because the drug that bucks you up may now let you down…you are terrified to start a project or even finish one, lest it be wrong and you see in living color you are a “failure”…you are frightened to admit to another that the food money went for…something else.

It is these “fears”  Paul addresses in this pithy verse.  While you feel a small exhilaration from adrenaline at the time, the counter punch is horrible and longer lasting.   They are empty nothing-less things that pull away your time, energy and money.  {Which of three is the worse I myself have a hard time figuring out.}

Instead Paul recommends that  you should channel your energies towards God/Christ who is more physically present than any of those and repays you a hundredfold with the one thing none of these give…Love.

Related articles

• For Christ’s Followers Are Conquerors (susankosper.wordpress.com)
• Nothing can separate you from GOD but yourself (arkofgod.wordpress.com)
• What is the Romans Road to salvation? (altruistico.wordpress.com)
• Just A Hookup? (welcometomysideofthings.wordpress.com)
• Why I’m Uncomfortable With the Hookup Culture (realclearpolitics.com)