Always Living With God

“For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.” (1Th 5:9-10 AV)

 

Verse nine is one of those verses used to prove the church will not go through the tribulation.  Wrath is reserved for the enemies of God.  Not His children.  Be that as it may, verse ten is our text this morning.  Whether we are awake in this world, or sleep (pass on to the next), we live together with Him.  This is the very purpose of salvation.  Jesus, in His prayer for His disciples, stated,  “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” (Joh 17:3 AV)  The whole purpose of creation was that God might have sweet fellowship with beings who would love Him and trust Him by faith.  When the blood of Christ is applied to our account, a relationship is established that cannot be broken.  When I read that verse above, comfort floods the soul.  To know that even though our relationship may be strained by my disobedience or lack of faith, it can never be dissolved, is security beyond words.  To know there is nothing that can separate me from the love of Christ.   “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Ro 8:38-39 AV)  This any other creature is us, as well.  There is nothing that can separate us from God’s love.  No matter what we do, He always lives with us, and we with Him.

There was a terrifying moment in my childhood that sticks with me even today.  I remember it because I had a horrible nightmare that I still remember.  My parents went through a tough patch.  Like most parents do.  There was a horrible fight and dad left the house.  He took his truck and went away.  We went away for several days and Mom mentioned she didn’t know if Dad was ever coming back.  I remember the night she said that, I had this horrible dream.  Our bedroom was under remodeling so our beds were out in our playroom.  This room was huge.  It had a ping pong table, a pool table, a shuffleboard court, and a train table.  Our beds looked out over the street where a large maple tree grew.  It was the fall.  I remember because the bright moonlight showed through the tree and the branches were clearly visible.  I must have been slipping in and out of sleep because I saw those branches and a monster that was moving and getting closer.  I imagine my mind put together a movement that took hours and made me think it was minutes.  The trauma of thinking my father had left led me to a sleepless night that I can never forget.  This is common today.  Many homes have only one parent, or, whose parent(s) have been so selfish as to abandon their child or children.  I cannot even imagine.

Praise the LORD we have a Father who will never leave nor forsake us.  Sin can, and does, cause issues.  We can strain our relationship with Him.  We can change the character of our relationship with Him.  Rather than have a relationship of joy and gladness, we have a relationship of correction and chastisement.  But there is always a relationship.  Lastly, this living together with Him is not something we control.  It is not something we can pick and choose.  Any more than I can pick and choose who my natural father is, I cannot divorce my heavenly Father because I choose to live in the world.  Once this relationship is established, it is God that keeps it that way.  The grace that saved me is the grace that keeps me.  He is our heavenly Father because He chooses to be and there is nothing we can do to force His choice otherwise.  We live with Him.  Oh, glorious thought.  We live with Him.  How truly wonderful.  We live with Him and there is nothing or no one who can pluck us out of His hand.  Praise be to God!