Distance and Love

We learn a lot from the scriptures and recently, a crazy topic popped into my mind and I sought to write “Distance Relationships” - Haha

Read on…

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The Beginning...

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth and he made man and he was with man right there in the garden and man experienced true friendship with God, man knew God for who he was and that was LOVE

God gave man everything he wanted

A garden with fruits and vegetables-FOOD

Animals for his consumption- MEAT

Sweet melodies from the Birds - MUSIC

A beautiful woman for companionship- WIFE

While His spirit dwells in for guidance and wisdom

And Himself for Peace and Love…

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Breach of Trust

So man experienced all of this direct relationship and intimacy with God and everything was perfect but then Sin came along and man chose to do things in the ways of Man.

And this perfect love and intimacy with God began to wane.

Soon man left the garden and was a bit far into the Kingdom of God's City “Eden”.

But man was still in Eden just not in the garden which means man was still close to God and God was still with man so the intimacy was still there, but the guilt and sin of man naturally drift us away from the Love of God.

But Man continued to sin And that intimacy began to wane further until God became distant from man and His spirit left.

And that close relationship was no more, now the relationship between God and Man took a shift from Close and Intimate to Distance relationship…

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More like two lovers who were so deeply in love but then one had to travel far away and could no longer be with his intimate twinkle twinkle little star.

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So what happened during the distance?

Well God still wanted to be with Man but Man couldn’t just stop his ways of Sin which of course God could not harbor...

So for God to be with man— Man had to start praying and worshiping and be in a state of holiness to bring back his presence (what they need not do before😅) —

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We can relate that with carnal relationships, while we are close to the special one we can play and tease and flirt and make love to them and all of those bonding goes smoothly but when we get distant from our lovers we start to make series of Phone calls and text messages and flirty conversations to woo them and make our special one happy just to bring them to the remembrance of how it was before the distance, now that’s worshiping and God also admires that😅😅

But even while all of this was still ongoing,

Once in a while God troops in to visit man through His angels and sometimes with a direct encounter like that of Abraham, Jacob(Israel), Saul(Paul), and a few others even Nicholas the writer 😅.

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This we can relate with making a surprise visit to our special one's events, traveling to visit our loved ones(LDR folks😅), going on vacations with our loved ones usually brief - that’s having an encounter or Trans 😅.. or perhaps dreaming of our loved one — that’s a vision with God 😅…

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The Restoration

But then this wasn’t enough because he missed us so much and despite the nature of man God still wanted it to be like the beginning, so he made a plan to make that closeness permanent and no more distant.

Moses and Aaron came and left, Joshua Tried, Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Joseph, Gideon David, Jonah, and so on.... they all tried their best but they all had their flaws and were limited being men and could never redeem mankind to God as they couldn't really help the people understand God for the Israelites were indeed stubborn and entitled set of children 😅…

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Confusion Amidst

Despite all the sweet text messages and love letters and phone calls and gifts and presents and care that God showered on the Israelites through his prophets.

The Israelites still couldn’t understand the intents of God and to themselves, they interpreted it based on the situations at present rather than see beyond what was in front of them, and due to their nature, it was much more difficult for them to understand God.

To them they saw, War, Demands, Law, Commandments, a strict God, don’t do this don’t do that and due to their entitlement and self-centeredness they never truly cared to understand the Lord their God of course the leaders tried their best to help them and a few did understand God like King David- a man after God's heart and others...

But God didn't want just His prophets to know him or solely the leaders, God wanted His people(everyone you and I) to know Him.

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The same thing still happens in modern day, many of us don't know God and leave the task solely to our pastors or prophets or reverend in church while we just do religion and go to church every Sunday lol to listen and go back home unchanged, many of us are like the Israelites who knew they had a God who watches over them but they failed to know the God and only summon the prophets when tribulations arise 😊 - alias “ pastor pray for me”...

Many of us to date are like the Israelites-- we must change our ways.

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Word became flesh - Jesus

So what happens next?

The prophecy of His coming through his prophets was hastened to once and for all put an end to the confusion of His people and false assumptions and disorderliness, and likewise once again dwell with man, just as it was from onset and this time not just with the Israelite but to all humanity...

How sweet of Him!

So God came Himself as Jesus to show His people who exactly He is and What he Wants and how everything can go back to how it was from the time of creation, the good and glorious old days.

And guess what happened when that close relationship that man had with God in Genesis was again re-established?

Man wanted to Kill God!!!😳

How ironic that is!

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False Assumptions/Illusions vs Reality

They could not accept him

The same Israelites called him a blasphemer

Because their expectations of him were different from the reality in front of them.

Expectations

They expected a warrior

Mighty God who rains fire and thunder

Parted seas, fought wars, and gained victory

They expected a king and a man of War.

Reality

But then they saw “Jesus” a baby, born in the most despicable place “ a manger in Bethlehem”

Lol this can’t be the God of our Ancestors

This can't be the God we have been serving

Rather than a warrior they saw a meek and humbled man who talks about Peace and Love and Friendship.

And when he told them hey folks I’m the God you’ve been serving…

Alright guys we have to correct some stuff and fix this relationship, to do that, first, take your minds off all those commandments and laws that the prophets of the old told you, we can all agree y'all couldn't keep up with them, this is my gift for you all; I'm gonna fulfill them all so you need not worry about them and simply just follow my lead.

“let's take a break and give accolades to them, those men and prophets tried their best and did all they could but hey let’s agree to disagree they couldn’t save you all and neither could the laws”

But here I am now, in flesh and blood, I’m going to tell you everything I’d intended and a perfect way to make it all good and easy — I’ll show you how we can regain all of those good-good loving like it was in high school 😅…

Then lol rather than embrace him they took stones and wanted to kill him 😂😂…

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If I’m to relate this with carnal relationships when we are distant from our partner we sometimes create an idea or live in an illusion of them which may either be better or worse or somewhere in between but it’s never accurate and then when we get to be with them it turns out way better than expected or less than expected or somewhere in-between still trying to find synchrony.

But then some accepted Him and believed Him and those who took their time to understand Christ enjoyed the rewards of this rekindled relationship and broke free from the old and lived happily ever after like disney would put but in Christ that’s Eternal Life.

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End Of Story ---- Moral Lesson

What we can learn from this story is that distance relationships can often get tricky as intentions, care, and love can quickly be misinterpreted or misrepresented.

Distance tends to fool us all:

It gives a false reality of the real things, I’ll end this chapter with excerpts from Mariam Dyck as she spilled the thoughts out of my heart.

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Distance tells me...

Her life is easier than mine.

Her children are better behaved.

Her husband is so thoughtful

Their vacations are amazing

Her house is fit for a magazine

She has so many friends

She succeeds at everything!

Her family gets along sooooo well

It’s easy to be fooled from a distance but spend a little time in a close relationship with her and you would see a vastly different picture

The untold sorrow of loss

The challenges of an autoimmune disease

The prayers and tears while praying for her children

The sacrifices of the job

The lonely days and lonelier nights

The insecurity that weighs her down

Distance is the devil’s tool to keep us from an authentic and close relationship with others. From afar we make assumptions based on appearances that are usually incorrect.

Stripping away the pretense involves stepping closer and closing the gap between the illusion and reality.

Choosing not to judge or assume from a distance is a wonderful gift of grace that we in Christ can offer each other!

Sometimes we are the guilty ones purposely maintaining distance.

Our pride prevents us from letting others see who we really are in all our weaknesses and frailty, so we create separation to protect ourselves.

We cling to the filters of Instagram, WhatsApp Stories, and Tik Tok and purposely portray a life that is no more authentic than smoke from a fire.

While this may give us a feeling of safety, in the end, all that we gain is the illusion of a beautiful life, but the life itself is dead.

And lonely.

Closing the gap between who we are and what others see requires courage – the courage to be real, authentic, and vulnerable.

This is hard work!

And can only be done well in the light of our relationship with Jesus Christ. For He, himself, is the ultimate example of bridging the gap between the Creator of the Universe and his creation.

God could have chosen to distance himself from his creation, but instead, He sent his one and only Son Jesus down as a baby to close the gap that separated us from our Creator.

The Father of all Creation longs for an intimate and close relationship with you. He stands ready and waiting to move but awaits your signal.

When we draw near to God, we begin to see the details of who He is rather than a hazy and vague image. We see his grace, his mercy, his generosity, and his love in our lives.

Soon we wonder how we ever lived without Him!

God will never impose Himself on you, but He awaits with an invitation to draw near and the promise that He will reciprocate.

Don’t make the mistake of distancing yourself from the One who truly LOVES you; draw near and discover for yourself the truth of who He is. You will find He is not a fraud or an imposter, but rather upon close inspection, He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

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The same goes for relationships…

Avoid distance with your partners it doesn’t help in any way and can ruin even the most genuineness of Love.

The more we understand God the easier it is for us to understand how to make marriages work, relationships work and how to make life work.

When the scripture says, seek ye first the kingdom of God and every other thing will be added on - it meant that literally…

Thanks for reading

Still your favorite writer 😅

Klaus.