Topic: absence

This presence is coming sooner than we deserve, because we never deserve it. But presence does not come as soon as we desire. We are stuck in this sin-cursed world. We want God’s presence now. For now we wait. We wait for God to return sooner than we deserve but not as soon as we desire.

Without repentance, our hearts can grow hard & will turn away from God. Sin is deceitful & will trick you into thinking you are safe to continue living however you want. If there is any relational distance between God & you due to sin, drop everything that stands in your way & restore your relationship.

On the cross, God with us died for us. The One who was present was now absent. The Word that became flesh & died became the Savior who rose again & was glorified.
God came near but is still far. God came to our present but remains in our future. Jesus is the antidote to absence.

We want a Jesus who accepts the life we like to live. We want a Jesus who blesses us with material goods. So, we shape Him into our likes. But when we form Jesus into our own image, He is not Jesus. When we make Jesus present in our image, Immanuel may become absent.

The hope we must cling to through the dark nights of our souls must not be just to escape. It must be to remain in the divine Light no matter how hard. We must cling to Christ & His resurrection.

We do not need to blame God for our pain or believe that He is absent in it. He took our blame & our pain when He became present to us in the person of Jesus Christ.

Don’t make worship about conjuring presence or catching the mouse in its trap. Make presence about lifting God up so high above you that His presence becomes impossible. Then, when He is the focus of your praises & elevated far above you, in His proper place of worship, He will satisfy you & fill you with joy more abiding than any manufactured or machine trap of presence. Worship’s chief end is to glorify God. By glorifying Him in worship we will enjoy Him in it as we never have before.

So if you need to answer the question, Is God present at my church? ask yourself the question, Are there Christ-followers at church? If there are, then Christ is there. As the church loves one another, God abides in us, & we can see & experience Christ in one another.

We must feel neither condemned nor comfortable in absence. If we become comfortable in this world, we have stopped our search. If we become defeated in absence, we have forgotten the assurances of God. God withdraws to lead us deeper into Himself because He loves us, & by that same love He will return.