By Pastor Steve Nickodemus

I Need Contact!

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking this SoundCloud link

“Greet one another with a holy kiss.”
2 Corinthians 13:12 (NIV)

Does everyone seem so far away from you?  Do you feel like you are socially isolated from everyone?  Are you hungering after a hug, or a close, personal greeting?  Do you need contact with other human beings?

If you do need contact with other people, there is nothing wrong with you.  We are in the midst of a worldwide crisis of loneliness and isolation due to precautions we have put in place to protect ourselves from a highly contagious virus.

And these precautions have had the unfortunate consequence of increasing the suicide rate, the rate of alcohol and drug use, and the rate of domestic violence.  God made us for fellowship, for closeness, for love and kindness, not isolation and separateness.

In the midst of the loneliness and isolation, I want to remind you that our Lord has not left us alone and without hope.  Although we may not have the human contact we need, the Lord Jesus is still our Immanuel, our God With Us.  The Lord did not stay aloof and separate in heaven when we had fallen into sin, death, and wrath.  But He left His high throne, emptied himself, and became one of us, that He might be obedient to the Father and die a death on a cross that we might be saved.

And He did that so you and I might be brought into God’s presence, into His grace, into His intimate fellowship.  You are not cut off from God, you are made His sons and daughters, intimate members of His family forever.  He was forsaken that we might be be forgiven. He became nothing that we might have the riches and intimacy of our Heavenly Father forever!

Thank you, Lord Jesus, for bringing me into fellowship with the Father forever.  Amen!

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church Colorado Springs, Colorado