August 4
August 4
Humanity was created to live in a loving, worshiping, and life-giving relationship with God, but sin separated us from the one we were created to live with and for.
Most of us hate to be separated from those we love. Luella and I have three married children and six grandchildren in Southern California. So, though we live in Philadelphia, we have become bicoastal. We spend about half of our time in California and half with our married son and his wife in Philly. We love being with our grandchildren out west, and there are always tears shed when we leave. While we are in California, we miss our East Coast son and his wife and anticipate our time with them as we are flying home to Philly. Because we are not omnipresent, we are always happy to be with those we’re with, yet sad because other loved ones are so far from us. Few things are more joyful than being among those with whom you share a deep bond of love.
But, even when we consider the immense sadness that human separation brings, nothing in life is sadder than being separated from God. Of all of the tragedies we face in life, this is the tragedy of tragedies. Not only were we made by God, but we were made for him. Every person you see on the street, in a store, at work, at a conference, at a reunion, at church, or at a concert was made for a relationship with God. God designed us to find our highest end and purpose in him. Our relationship with him was meant to be the way we understand our identity. Worship of him was meant to be the deepest and most abiding motivation of our hearts. It was in relationship with him that we were meant to find our humanity and our sanity.
Therefore, the greatest tragedy is that people who were made in the image of God became separated from him:
Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save,
or his ear dull, that it cannot hear;
but your iniquities have made a separation
between you and your God,
and your sins have hidden his face from you
so that he does not hear. (Isa. 59:1–2)
God hid his face from those he had made. How tragic! Separation from him means losing not only true spirituality but also true humanity. We cannot be what we were meant to be apart from him. Separation from him is our eternal doom. Sin is not just the breaking of moral law; it is the breaking of a relationship with God that was meant to be the core of who we are.
This is why we celebrate the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Through him our sins are atoned for, we are reconciled to God, and sin separates us no more. By grace he is ours and we are his forever. Sin has been defeated, so those who believe are separated from God no more. Now, that’s very good news!