Hot or cold?

Living in Arizona, even the temperature of our skin gets warm! No matter how warm it is outside, my mom is usually wearing a sweater inside (it is just one of those things that happens at about age 100). I will reach out to take her hand to help her up or to navigate to her next destination, only to hear, "My...your hands are so warm!" Touch is a tactile sense - it is something 'felt' through the experience of what comes into contact with one's body. God's touch may not be 'physical' in that his hands makes contact with ours, but we can somehow 'sense' the touch of God in our lives just about as well as we can experience the physical touch of a loved one reaching out to take our hand. What God does 'in' us through his touch is almost as palpable as what he does all around us.

Unless a person submits to this original creation—the 'wind-hovering-over-the-water' creation, the invisible moving the visible, a baptism into a new life—it's not possible to enter God's kingdom. When you look at a baby, it's just that: a body you can look at and touch. But the person who takes shape within is formed by something you can't see and touch—the Spirit—and becomes a living spirit. (John 3:4-6)

A touch is the means by which we perceive - we know dimension, experience consistency, and interpret the temperature of something. Through a touch, we feel with the intention of understanding or appreciating that which we are in contact with. Much is conveyed in a touch - Jesus reminds us that unless we submit to the touch of God on our lives, we are not able to enter into the Kingdom of God. The invisible spirit of man - that which only God can touch within us - must be touched by the hand of the Almighty God. There is just no other touch that can equate to his.

It is important for us to keep in mind that God's touch is not a one time event in our lives - his hand passes over us time and time again - in order that we might get a sensation of one who is touching us. It is the desire of God to impart his holiness, joy, peace, power - all that he is - through his touch. As a blind man might lightly touch the face of another - tracing the outline of those features in order to determine their identity - God touches us. He looks for the identity of Christ to be replicated in us. Where he discovers that identity in us, he takes delight - he recognizes him and it excites him when he finds more of his Son in us each time he makes contact.

It is that touch that gives us both the awareness of who we are in contact with and the ability to sense his character. Yet, much more is conveyed in the touch of God on our spirit. God brings assurance through his touch - a sense of safety, a sense of being sure or certain - a sense of stability. His touch becomes the strength we need for the tasks at hand. At times, it is the very consolation we need when trouble or worry is at hand. His touch also serves to help us identify what is ahead for us. Just as a blind man might grope around in the darkness of his condition, we grope around, reaching out to identify where we are in life and what we have to navigate through. God is right there, revealing the obstacles that lay in our path, so that we might steer clear of them. In turn, his touch aids us each and every time to find our way through some pretty challenging or frightful stuff.

Nothing affects our spirit more than the touch of a holy God. His touch gets our attention - focusing us anew like nothing else can. Through his touch, we are brought to a place of alertness - heightened in our interest and coming out of our slumber. That very touch brings us to a place of readiness - much like the tap on a shoulder might alert one nearby that their attention is needed. We often miss what is right in front of us - simply because our attention has drifted toward something else. His touch helps us to take notice and to turn the powers of perception toward that which we need so desperately to comprehend.

Nothing pleases God more than to see a stirring in response to his touch. His awakening touch is meant to arouse us - to make us active again where we have allowed inactivity to lull us into complacency. His touch, just like that of a friend who gently shakes you from slumber, is able to disturb the quiet of the moment just enough to bring us to a change in our position. When God stirs us with his touch, it is to bring about a change in position - to arouse us to activity. We must never grow weary with being touched by God - his touch moves us and directs us so that we will make progress toward the goal he has for our lives. It is his touch that helps us keep a steady pace - making forward progress spiritually. It is through a touch that we budge from our fixed, stubborn position of "safety" and "security" - what we call that place of complacency. The next time God moves across your life, stirring your emotions, bringing your feelings to attention - respond to him with the passion of your heart. His touch - sensing the temperature of our lives - determines if we are hot or cold, alive or dead, in a state of rigor or pliable in his hands. There is the promise of much joy and satisfaction conveyed in his touch. Have you been touched by God today? Just askin!

Leaning or Pulling?

Natalie Grant sings a pretty profound song entitled "Just a Glimpse". The lyrics refer to not having to know how far God's love will go, nor how unending his mercy really is, in order to be deeply in love with and affected by his presence in our lives. We want to know the 'distance' his love will go, but honestly, all we need to know is that his love will reach us no matter where we are. We want to understand if there is anyway to go 'too far' so as to no longer be able to have his mercy when we need it, but the reality is that his mercy is greater than our deepest need. Natalie goes on to remind us that we don't have to fully understand God's holiness to appreciate his holiness embracing us. Chris Tomlin sings of not being able to run from the presence of God in his song, "Jesus Loves Me." The message is clear - no place we go, no "thing" we do, and no "ignorance" we declare can keep us from the love of God and the surrounding safety of his arms.

Great blessings belong to those who fear and respect the Lord and live the way he wants. You will get what you work for. You will enjoy the Lord’s blessings, and all will go well for you. (Psalm 128:1-2 ERV)

Yes, it is better to love 'for' God than to live 'against' him, but the reality is that ALL of us 'live against him'. We all need his embrace, and the definite truth is that we will 'continue' to need his love for all the days we take breath. His love is more than what saves us, it is what sustains us throughout our days. Broken hearts get mended because of his presence. Hurt feelings get righted because of his mercy. Damaged bodies somehow are renewed because of his healing touch. All the things that come out of 'living against' him somehow have a way of being different when we finally begin to pull into his embrace of grace and mercy instead of pushing against it!

At times I think we forget just how miserably hard our heart was toward God. It could have been a long, long time since you reached out to Jesus asking him to be the Lord of your life. If so, you may not remember some of the hardness that was there, the tremendous bondage you experienced apart from his presence setting you free. For others, the deliverance is so close you can still sense the tremendous relief freedom brings when grace touches those things that held you bound for so long. Regardless of where we are in our walk with Jesus, we all need an occasion now and again where we just recount his mercies, remember his grace, and allow ourselves to be renewed by his ever-present love. 

Maybe today will be a day of new beginnings for some of us - we never know when the depth of his love will touch an untouched area of our hurting hearts, damaged emotions, or misery caused by compromise and sin. When that touch comes, let us lean into it rather than resist it. His touch is memorable, but when we lean into it we kind of "cement" the effect of that touch, giving it a permanent part in our memories for all times. Just sayin!