Overcoming the Distance!

Last night I had an on-line meeting using Google Chat.  There were seven of us who had “gathered” for a board meeting of Promise Kids Foundation, an organization of which I am currently the president.  Each of us was in different locations including Long Island, Queens, North Jersey, and myself in Monmouth County. Yet, in spite of the various locations and distance, we were able to meet and discuss the business at hand. In fact, one person came into the meeting while yet in a taxi in NYC!

This was not the first time I have had such a meeting. Yet, I am always amazed at how the technology we have today is able to connect us in this way.  In spite of the distance and various locations, we are able to see and hear one another, doing what needs to be done.  The distance that was once a barrier to our communication and a meeting such as this is no longer the barrier that it once was.

That’s very much the way it is between God and us.  There is a great distance between us.  Communication could be difficult. Yet, God has made a way for the barriers to be broken and the distance to be overcome. That is why Jesus has sent to us the Holy Spirit; the coming of the Holy Spirit has provided a means for us to communicate with God and experience him in spite of the distance. By means of the Holy Spirit at work in our lives we can regularly meet with God, experience God, speak to God and hear from him!

Jesus said, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth…you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you…. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.” (John 14:16-18, 20 – NIV)  Through ministry of the Holy Spirit in our lives, the distance is overcome! God is near to us, with us, even at work within us!  We get to meet with God every day, wherever we may be, in spite of the fact that he is in heaven and we are on earth!  

I want to encourage you today to realize how very near God is to you. If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, then the Holy Spirit is with and even within you. And, that means the distance has been overcome!

Have a great day!

Pastor Tim Harris