Can't Take That Away From Me

So many things can be lost in this life. Friends can move away, loved ones can pass on, we can have thieves take our identifying information, we can lose money, we can have our homes and possessions repossessed or destroyed in natural disaster. We can permanently misplace small items, total a vehicle, close down a business.

With each kind of loss, there is an accompanying grief process and often rebuilding or rehabilitation to do.  Loss is a major factor of the human existence, and one everyone needs to navigate frequently. It is the cause of sadness, frustration, sometimes even despair.

Almost anything can be lost or taken away. Even our health and family are not a 100% guarantee each day.  But there is a refuge of certainty - something that can never be lost or stolen.

The love of Christ.  

It cannot be taken from us because we don’t OWN it. It was freely offered by our Heavenly Father in the person of His Son, in His sacrifice. 

We didn’t save up to buy it, or earn it through years of work, or build it with our own hands. Because we don’t OWN it, no one has the power to take it away from us. As Paul says in Romans 8, “I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor rulers, neither things present nor things to come, nor powerful forces, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39)  And Paul would know! He had lost the life that he once had, his livelihood persecuting Christians, his colleagues and friends from his Pharisee days, his sight briefly. He was shipwrecked, run out of  his safe lodgings numerous times, lost his freedom through imprisonment. And yet he assures the Romans that NOTHING can separate believers from the love of God.

Jesus himself taught twice, as recorded in the book of Luke, that the gifts of God cannot be taken away from us, His children. First during a visit to his friends Mary and Martha, when Martha threw herself completely into the earthly concerns of preparing her house and food for company. She had likely bought or grown food, worked hard to make everything nice and inviting and clean, and had to show for it an appropriately welcoming environment for Jesus’ visit.

But her sister focused wholeheartedly on the Savior and His words. Jesus commended that choice with the words, “one thing is needed. In fact, Mary has chosen that better part, which will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:42) The earthly provisions for which Martha toiled and saved were not as needed, not as permanent as Mary’s abundance of Jesus’ teaching.

In Luke 12, he admonishes his disciples to focus on the permanent. The things no one can take away, or lose, or fail to achieve. “‘For that reason I tell you, stop worrying about your life, about what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. Certainly life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap; they have no warehouse or barn; and yet God feeds them. How much more valuable are you than birds!  And who of you by worrying can add a single moment to his lifespan?  Since you are not able to do this little thing, why do you worry about the rest? Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. But I tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory was dressed like one of these.  If this is how God clothes the grass in the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, how much more will he clothe you, you of little faith?  Do not constantly chase after what you will eat or what you will drink. Do not be worried about it. To be sure, the nations of the world chase after all of these things, but your Father knows that you need them. Instead, continue to seek the kingdom of God, and all these things will be added to you. Do not be afraid, little flock, because your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom.  Sell your possessions and give to the needy. Provide money bags for yourselves that do not become old, a treasure in the heavens that will not fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.’” (Luke 12:22-34)  

This lesson from Jesus deals tidily with many of our earthly concerns - food, clothes, saving and storing, all kinds of “treasure” that the world would have us believe are of great importance. Every single one of these, and many more, could easily disappear. Thieves, moths, disaster, change of circumstance. But what we have been given, grace and forgiveness and salvation, that which we have done nothing to earn or make or save up, cannot be taken away from  us. 

The love of Christ is permanent. It is unshakeable. It is the one thing we can be absolutely sure of, and therefore the thing we should focus on. And when we do that, when we meditate on the unchangeable, fadeless grace that is ours, we have so much less room for worry or fear about the things of our earthly life.  We can rest, content, in what cannot be taken away from us.