One of the things we’re supposed to do more often during Lent is thinking about God.

Of course, that’s the very last thing the devil wants us to do! He’d much rather we become obsessed with our problems, turn to introspection and wallow in self-centred ambitions and the problems that other people cause us.

You see, the more we think about all of that, the less we’ll think about God. And the less we think about God the less likely we are to trust him. And the less we trust him, the more we’ll ignore him, the less we’ll keep his commandments and the less we’ll want to walk in the light of his truth and so on… 

In a nutshell, that’s precisely what sin is: walking away from God; it’s a breakdown in our trust of God.

Thank God—literally!—for Saint Paul and today’s second reading from his letter to the Romans. Paul gives us the antidote to discouragement, frustration and cynicism. ‘If God is for us, who can be against us?’ Saint Paul proclaims. He then goes on, pointing out that the whole message of Christ’s death and resurrection proves that God is totally, completely, utterly, 100% for us.

Jesus didn’t die on the cross because he had sinned; he died because we had sinned. He gave himself up to the powers of evil as a ransom for us.

That’s how much he loves us!

But even that wasn’t enough! By rising from the dead, Jesus defeated the powers of evil once and for all.

Whatever the world—or underworld for that matter—throws at us doesn’t really matter, because whatever power it might have, it pales into insignificance in the face of the power of Christ’s love. And remember, God is on our side! When we look at our problems from God’s perspective they take on an entirely new perspective.

This truth can break us out of the self-destructive loop of sin. All we have to do is trust him because he can be trusted, and follow him wherever he leads us.