L. Craig Harris: December 2009

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Feeling Close to God

I just don't feel close to God. I used to feel close to him, but not anymore. Have you thought this lately? I hear people say this and I experience it myself from time to time. Is there a secret to feeling God's presence? Is there a secret to feeling close to God?
How sad to go through the Christmas Holidays feeling disconnected from God. But many people do. How sad not to be joyful during such a joyful time. How sad not to feel the peace of Christmas. How sad to have to reach for pills or drinks to fill an emptiness. How disappointing to find that doesn't work.
Yes, there is a secret and I'm going to share it with you. The night before Jesus was crucified he left his followers with a command: love one another. That's the secret.
Are you telling me I have to love other people in order to feel closer to God? Yes, read on.
Jesus knew he was leaving their presence and going back to heaven. He knew they - and we - would need help feeling close to him after he was gone. So he did two things: he gave us the Holy Spirit to keep us connected to him, and he told us to love one another.
If you want to feel close to God, then draw close to other people. Hold them close. Hug their necks. Laugh and encourage and share and weep together. Remember, this is what Jesus told us to do. Think about it, if God wants to give me a hug, he uses your arms to do it. We are Jesus in the skin today. We are his hands, his feet, his voice. His love. That's the tremendous privilege and terrible responsibility he left us with. This is the church, the body of Christ.
We live in an endless circle of love. God the Father loves Jesus, Jesus loves us, we love each other, and we love God. If you aren't feeling close to God, then make sure you aren't breaking the circle. Make sure you are loving each other.
But, is it really this simple? Yes, but it's hard to do. We are pulling farther apart from each other these days. We lock ourselves in our homes and sit in front of the TV. We live our lives vicariously through fictional characters who tend to push us away from God. We listen to everyone except the ones who are speaking the real truth. We ignore God's love letter to us. We're too tired to go to church. We don't want to sacrifice for anyone. But Jesus said there is no greater love than for a person to lay down his life for his friends. Remember that? So, we have to sacrifice. Friendship with God is valuable, so it is costly. We have to stop being selfish and start loving like Jesus taught us.
When we do this, we will feel close to God. I guarantee it. This Christmas, draw close to your church family. God is not far away, we just have to love each other to feel how close he really is. We have to draw close to Jesus' body to feel close to him. Dive in, get plugged in. Jump in the middle of the circle. Then, when you see me, you can thank me with a big hug, straight from the heart of God.