Thank God for those mother’s we got to celebrate with face to face this Sunday! There’s joy in receiving letters, texts, video calls and things like Zoom, Skype, and Marco Polo have made it more convenient than ever. But there is always something special about being with someone face to face. Ask someone deployed overseas if it’s easy to do especially over long periods of time. Talk to someone locked away how it affects their family life. And, if it’s true for you, how the quarantine has stirred up your longing to be with someone.
This is how John rights to his church.
2 John 12 I have much to write to you, but I do not want to use paper and ink. Instead, I hope to visit you and talk with you face to face, so that our joy may be complete.
We are missing something when we aren’t together. As I preach, I miss being able to see the faces of the people I am preaching to and thinking how this Word of God connects with them. To be honest, joy flows into the sermon a lot easier that way.
A longing that drives us…
We can get this intense longing to be face to face. It’s a good thing! That’s where everything becomes real- where we find that there’s so much more to communication than just a message seeing someone. All the nuances of communication come out! As Christian’s we can relate. We can’t wait for to our relationship with our Savior to turn into a face to face. That is why sometimes we struggle as believers. We don’t have Jesus face to face with us. We have his “letter” his Word that tells of his relationship to us, and expresses his love, and works it in us. But not to see… that leaves us aching for the day we can. Is that maybe why sometimes it’s so difficult to stick to his written Word? Only about 14% of Americans are daily Bible readers, and it’s often easy to stray away from our reading plans. We would rather be with Christ rather than wait to be.