Look inside this book.Where the Bush is Burning: A Daily Devotional by [Thomas Tice]
Nothing And No One

Nothing And No One

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

Romans 8:35 

God has done all that is necessary to secure us. He has done it through Christ, His Son. The evidence of this lies throughout the Scripture from the first mention of Him in Genesis 3, to His last remarks in Revelation 22. As Paul reaches the crescendo of his writing on the security of the redeemed, he asks the rhetorical question, ‘Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?’ He follows that question with a list of things and people, all of whom he contends cannot separate us from the love of Christ. He speaks of tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, sword, death, life, angels, principalities, powers, things present, things to come, height, depth, and any other created thing. He declares that not any one of these people or things can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Thus the answer to the question, who shall separate us from the love of Christ, is nothing and no one. This bolsters our faith in a way that few other things can. Christ has us completely. We are safe in Him.  

Our Great God and our Savior, 
we rejoice that You hold us and will not let us go. 
We praise You that You have  
guaranteed our future. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

No Charges

No Charges

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Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.  

Romans 8:33-34 

The work of Christ has removed all charges which stood against us. We were guilty as breakers of the law of God. All the charges which were against us were just. Unless someone intervened those charges would stand and we would suffer condemnation. The consequences would be eternal punishment. God delivered up Christ as the substitutionary sacrifice for us. As Paul writes elsewhere, ‘But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.’ Thus the sacrifice of Christ has paid the penalty which the law exacts for sin. This is the most glorious transaction which could occur for our salvation. As Paul also writes, ‘For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.’ God has imputed our sin to Christ and Christ’s righteousness to us. Thus, ‘Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect?’ We are free and clear of all charges because of Christ. This is liberating beyond all we could ask or think. It means the Son has made us free and we are free indeed. The result is we look to Christ daily, hourly, and moment by moment. He has done for us what no one else could do. All these blessings and benefits have come to us by Him.  

Our Gracious Master and our God, 
we rejoice that You were willing to bear our guilt. 
We praise You that because You have,  
we are free from all charges.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

All Things

All Things

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He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? 

Romans 8:32 

What are all the things that come with Christ? Paul is declaring that since God did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all that along with giving Him to us He will also include everything else. As he continues with this line of thought, he begins to list all the things that come to us along with having Christ. No one shall be able to bring a charge against us. God justifies us. No one can condemn us. Christ intercedes for us. No one and nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. We are more than conquerors through Christ. Nothing and no one in heaven, earth, or hell can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. Nothing else can be more soul-assuring than this. These are all the things that are ours along with having Christ. This gives us overwhelming confidence in the face of the most adverse circumstances. If we have Christ then we have all these things that come with Him. God guarantees it. All is well.  

Our Kind and Generous God, 
We rejoice that You have given us Christ, first of all. 
We praise You that, along with Him, 
You have given us all these other things.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

Christ Is Ours

Christ Is Ours

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He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? 

Romans 8:32 

God has given Christ to us. If we follow the line of logic Paul uses we see that God did not spare His own Son but delivered Him up for us all. He then goes on to extrapolate that He will give us all things along with Christ. Christ is the main thing. The other things follow because He has given us Christ first and foremost. Thus Christ is the key to every other blessing and benefit we enjoy. He is the most important gift, and deserves the most attention. What is most important is the permanence of this relationship. Christ had quite a lot to say about it. He remarked, ‘All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.’ Beyond that, when He spoke at length about being the good Shepherd, He said ‘My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.’ These are only two of a host of references which indicate that Christ is ours and we are His in an indissoluble union. Because God has done the giving, the effect of it is irreversible by His Own statement. If we have Christ, we have everything that matters for time and for eternity. God is good.  

Our Great and Gracious God, 
we rejoice that You have given Christ to us. 
We praise You that nothing and no one 
shall separate us from You.  

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning
Delivered Up

Delivered Up

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He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? 

Romans 8:32 

God delivered up His only begotten Son for us. He delivered Him up to various things all of which spelled humiliation. His being born, and that in a low estate was humiliating. His life as a member of the poor class was humiliating. His privations of being homeless and indigent were humiliating. His being arraigned as a common criminal was humiliating. The degradation of His trial with the spitting, hitting, whipping and mocking was humiliation. His crucifixion with its public nakedness, agony, sweat, blood and gore was humiliating. His death and continuing under its power for a time was humiliating. It was to all these horrific humiliations that His Father delivered Him. Perhaps the most poignant aspect of it for us personally is that He delivered Him up for us all. He delivered Him up for a specific people of whom we are part. Therefore, we cannot behold the sufferings of Christ casually. We gaze upon Him knowing that everything He did in life and in death was for us.  

Our Generous and Sacrificial God, 
we rejoice that You were willing to deliver  
Christ up to such humiliations. 
We praise You that because He endured them, 
we have forgiveness of sins.  

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

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