in
the next room, or even on the
same planet! It is a feeling of
emptiness, loneliness, maybe
even abandonment. The worst part
of it all is that I start to
entertain thoughts that I may
have caused the whole thing by
having done something to offend
Him. I must admit, its not one
of my favorite feelings. I think
there are a number of Believers
that have these same feelings.
As I was thinking about all
this, the Lord began to reveal
several truths to me about this
“gap” we sometimes feel exists
in our relationship with Him.The very first thing we have to know, believe, and continuously REMIND ourselves of is this: God has already done everything possible and everything needed to close the gap between Himself and man. John 3:16 reveals this to us simply. It was God’s LOVE that welled up within Him to a point it caused Him to act. He acted on His love for you and me. He sent His son Jesus to pay the price sin required so we could have RELATIONSHIP restored once again - the same relationship God had with Adam and Eve at the onset of creation.
In the beginning, God created Adam and then Eve to be Adam’s “helpmate”. In other words, God knew Adam needed someone to relate to him and to share his life. God met Adam’s need by creating Eve out of his rib, and Adam exclaimed “this is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh!” Similarly, Genesis 1 verse 26 says God created us in HIS image. We were created in HIS image so we could relate to HIM and so we could share HIS life. I John 4:8 tells us that God is love. Love is a choice, its something that must be shared. Therefore, God has no desire for any gap to exist between Him and us. For this to be so would negate God’s very purpose in creating mankind.
Another thing we need to know is that while sin was the cause of the initial gap created between man and God, sin is not the cause anymore. Though you and I can continue to choose to sin, sin in and of itself can no longer separate us from God. Its power to do so was destroyed on the cross (See Romans 6). Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross completely dealt with sin as far as God was concerned: past, present, and future. A lot of folks today, even Christians, still think the issue with God is sin. This is simply not true. Jesus paid the price for sin, and He paid it for ALL MANKIND (See Titus 2:11). Sin is no longer the issue with God. Sin has been defeated. The issue with God today is the only One left standing: Jesus. He is the issue. Jesus is the issue with every man and woman to whom forgiveness of sin has been provided. The question is no longer what you are going to do about your sin, the question now is what you are going to do about Jesus?
A friend of mine recently shared with me an interesting observation. He said, “People think God has forgiven every sin, except the ones they commit after becoming a Believer.” Let that one sink in for a minute. I think if we were honest, a lot of us still find ourselves trying to “pay” for our sins. We get convicted of something, and instead of repenting and moving on, we find ourselves feeling unworthy to even ask the Father for anything or even to approach Him because of “what we did” or because we didn’t “measure up”. That is NOT God “shaming you” so you will learn your lesson. That is CONDEMNATION. There’s a huge difference between conviction and condemnation. Conviction comes from the Holy Spirit, condemnation comes from Satan. One desires to bring you back to the presence of God, the other desires to push you farther away from Him. This is one instance where that “gap” begins to be created.
Think about it. If the devil could stop us from doing ONE THING in life, he would stop us from getting saved. But, he doesn’t have the power to do that, so he settles for the next best thing. He tries to destroy the relationship with God that we DO have. The devil wants us feeling more like an outsider than a son or daughter of God. The “gap” destroys intimacy, and this is what the Father truly desires with us. We can see a perfect example of this in the parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15). In this parable, the son finally decides to repent of his ways and return to his Father. The interesting thing to me is that we are told the Father noticed the son while he was yet a “great way off”. The only reason this could have been was because the father was looking for him, and probably on a regular basis. It didn’t matter what the son had done, he was still his son as far as the Father was concerned and he desired relationship. That’s a great lesson for us in and of itself.
Another good example of a man made “gap” is in the story of the woman at the well in John Chapter 4. The woman was trying to nit pick doctrine with Jesus over where is the “right” place to worship God. Jesus replies to her folly by telling her the hour (time) is coming when men will not worship in the mountain or in Jerusalem, but that the true worshippers will worship in Spirit and in Truth. What He is in essence telling her is that the day will come when man will not be limited to a certain place to worship God. God was so desiring intimacy with man that He planned to actually indwell man. Man actually would become the tabernacle where the presence of God would dwell.
The indwelling of man is so important for a couple of reasons. First, we see God’s desire to not only “bridge” the gap that existed because of sin, but to annihilate the gap completely and for man to become one spirit with His Spirit (See I Cor 6:17). Second, we have to understand that Jesus was both God AND man. Because Jesus had an earthly body like you and I, He was limited to what He could do in His time of earthly ministry. Look at John 16:7. He tells the disciples that it is expedient (to their advantage and benefit) that He goes away. How could that be? These men were part of Jesus’ “inner circle”. How could being with him physically every day be improved upon? Here is why. Jesus could only be in one place at one time. When the Holy Spirit arrived, He was not limited to a physical body as Jesus was. The Holy Spirit could live INSIDE and indwell the heart of EVERY believer and now become “mobile”, if you will, to go wherever they went and to take the presence and power of God along! So, we now see the Lord “attacking the gap” with great love and force, whereby causing the truth of Hebrews 13:5 to be realized: He will never leave us or forsake us.
Hebrews 4:16 admonishes us to come boldly to the throne of grace. Do you know why we can do that? We can do this because our sins have ALREADY been forgiven and dealt with, and because God’s Spirit indwells us. We need to realize that any “gap” between us and God can only and does only exist in our thinking. We need to change our thinking. I’ll be sharing ways to do this in the next part of this series.