Graduation Seating
As I looked upon a graduation field, I saw the candidates were adhering to the pandemic guidelines with chairs spaced the correct distance. Noticing the parents in the stands, they were spread appropriately six feet apart too. While the students were presented with their diplomas, I observed the principal and students elbow bump rather than shaking hands. Although their faces were masked, their pride was conveyed in their stride. Only my nephew’s mom and dad were allowed in the stadium. The rest of the family was left watching on a TV in the front yard of my sister’s house with space between our chairs.
Sci-Fi?
All this separation. I keep feeling like we are in a sci-fi movie. Everyone standing and sitting far from each other adorning masks to block “the sickness”. Every good movie has a villain. In my imagination, this one is a huge metal-made, silver dinosaur-looking monster invading our planet with a virus that will destroy the world as we know it.
The Real Enemy
Presently, we are guarding ourselves against the enemy, Covid-19. However, how well are we at guarding ourselves against the true enemy, Satan, who comes to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10). His desire is to completely separate us from God.
We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, (Romans 3:23), and these sins separate us from God (Isaiah 59:2).
Satan separates us from God by confusing us about what is right and wrong. At times, we let the world’s culture define what is and isn’t sin. Truth is found in God’s word, not trends of the times. How will we know the truth if we spend more time with worldly things than in the presence of God? We don’t get to choose what is sin in God’s eyes, and we cannot rationalize sin into “right”. Oh, we try justifying what we have done by comparing our actions to others’, minimizing its wrongness, avoiding what is true, or blaming our actions on others. However, sin is sin to God!
Ultimate Separation
Many believe we are Christians because we know who God is, but there is more. God longs for a relationship with us. In Matthew 7:22-23 the ultimate separation is foretold, “Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
I don’t know about you, but I am NOT loving this separated life. I miss hugging on my family and patting my students on the shoulder, and I do not like sitting six feet apart and wearing a mask that keeps others from seeing me smile. But when I sin, I am separating myself from God. He cannot hug on me in the way He wants because I have separated myself from Him. God is the one being we do not have to stay 6 feet from, it is our choice as to how close we get to him?