Tuesday, 14 April 2020

Alone - but not apart


And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words. For though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the stedfastness of your faith in Christ. – Colossians 2.4-5

If there ever was an appropriate time for this verse it is now. ‘I am absent from you, but I don’t want you to be the trickery of false teachers, but I am with you spirit and joy as I watch you be steadfast.’

That sure suits us now as so many of us are isolated from each other. We can’t meet for church meetings, we can’t even really visit each other. We can barely have any contact. Everything is done online and through Facebook and Zoom and Teams. That’s fine, but it not being there.

Paul says it perfectly. There are a lot of people I can’t be with in the flesh now. It breaks my heart that I can’t see them. I long to see them.

With Paul’s words of encouragement, we can be assured that even is are not physically present we can be present in Spirit.

Now that’s pretty easy to say, the doing is much harder. With Facebook, and WhatsApp, and Zoom and such we have no excuse to not be there in Spirit. A chat or a video call is just a click away. Being there in Spirit is not just a trite phrase that sounds spiritual. It means our hearts and souls and minds are still knit together in love even while we are apart.

Yes, we may be apart for a while – but we need not be apart.

No comments: