A Sense of Separation
READ
Whenever we are around someone who’s wronged us, we feel tension in the air. Though we are close to them physically, we feel far from them. Why? Wherever there is unforgiven sin, there is a sense of separation.
God deserves our total obedience, yet we continually transgress against Him. Our sin creates a chasm between us and our Father. But through Christ, we can be reconciled to God, making the distance between us a mere illusion, rather than a spiritual reality.
Let’s take a moment to read Isaiah 59:2:
But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear.
REFLECT
Some of us struggle to realize the extent of our depravity. The weighty consequences of our sin are often lost on us. We figure that we are decent enough people; after all, we haven’t murdered anyone. We donate to charity every once and a while. Why do we need “saving”?
The reality is that we dishonor God and His people millions of times a day, often without our conscious awareness. Worse, we often sin knowingly, apathetic toward the consequences of our actions. We judge our neighbors unfairly. We get impatient and snippy. We perpetuate habits that harm ourselves and our relationships. We get prideful and think of ourselves as better than others. We hold onto grudges. We covet what others have. We speak sharp, biting words. We work too much and rest too little. We prioritize our comfort and convenience over serving God and our neighbors.
Our sin problem is far more serious than we could ever realize. It destroys our relationships, deteriorates our souls, and disparages the Maker of the universe, Who gave us life and breath.
St. Ignatius of Loyola defined sin as an “unwillingness to trust that what God wants for me is only my deepest happiness.” Every time we sin, we reject God’s love, extended to us through His law. In His grace, God has shown us the best way to live, so that we might thrive and His Name would be glorified. When we go our own way and choose to do what seems best to us, we forsake God’s wisdom. When we sin, we accuse God of withholding His goodness from us. We assert that we know better than God does how to find life, peace, joy, and satisfaction. But by giving us His Son, God has proven Himself trustworthy and generous beyond comprehension (Romans 8:32). He doesn’t give us His law just to boss us around; He guides and corrects us so that we might have abundant life.
God has given us everything, and we have repaid Him with scorn, rejection, and distrust. God deserves to be angry with us. He has every right to punish us. He is a good, just, and righteous Judge. And a good judge, by definition, must punish what is evil and hold transgressors accountable for what they’ve done. God, in His goodness, needed to condemn evil in the world. So “God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us” (2 Corinthians 5:21).
The most profound pain we could ever experience is separation from God. Though we deserve such a penalty, we have not been rejected by Him. Instead of hiding His face from us, God turned His face away from His perfect Son.
Because of Christ’s blood, nothing can ever separate us from the love of God (Romans 8:38-39). Rather than allowing us to be far from Him, God has chosen to “remove our sins as far from us as the east is from the west” (Psalm 103:12).
When we sin, we can still feel disconnected from God. We can sense the misalignment between His heart and our own. The disquiet in our souls is not reflective of a real, ontological distance from God. Rather, it is a cue to us that we are living in a way that does not honor Him and His people. When we feel a sense of separation from God, it is not because He is far from us. It is not because He’s rejected us. It is a sign that we need to recommit to loving Him and serving His children.
RESPOND
Take a moment to process what God might be leading you to do in light of what you read.
In what way is your sin keeping you from feeling God’s nearness?
Do you believe your sin has the power to separate you from God’s love? Do you trust that the cross is more powerful than your sin?
REST
Take a moment to rest in God’s presence and consider one thing you can take away from your time reading, then close your devotional experience by praying:
Most merciful God, thank You for not allowing anything to come between us. Remind my soul that any time I feel far from You, it is a mere illusion. My sin is not big enough to undo what You’ve done for me on Calvary. I can never be separated from You, because You have brought me near. I love You and I thank You for Your inexplicable grace. Amen.
Port City writer Kate Redenbaugh wrote today’s devotional.