Who shall separate us from Christ's love?

Again this morning I was really blessed by Romans 8, this time by verses 35-39:

"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:
For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be abled to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (NIV)

These verses acknowledge that we may very very well face trouble, hardship, persecution, famine, nakendess, danger, or sword. In fact, the Old Testament speaks of facing the threat of being killed for the Lord's sake all day long. The question is, will such things separate us from the love of Christ? The answer is, absolutely not! Instead, in the midst of all these things, we are more than conquerors through Christ who loved us. As was mentioned back in verses 28-30, God has determined a day in the future when He will glorify us, finally and completely conforming us to the likeness of Christ! On that day, all the hardship will come to an end. And as verse 28 indicates, right now God is using the hardship to bring about His plan of conforming us to the likeness of Christ. This is the greatest love, to be freed from sin to stand face-to-face with Christ in holiness and purity, to be freed from sin to truly gaze upon Christ without shame! He is the greatest treasure!