No Longer Separated

God lives and works today. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, He has made us His children. And now He doesn't want any sin or trouble to separate us from Him.

What a joyful message, especially for those among us who experience painfully time and again how far away we are from God and our Lord Jesus. Listen to the following meditation by Basilea Schlink called No Longer Separated. I remember when I was seven years old how we always played one particular game during recess.

It began with one person standing in the middle of a circle who would look around at all the children and choose one to be her partner. When it was my turn to be in the middle, my eyes skimmed over all the different faces and came to rest on one particular girl. It was instantly clear this girl was to be my partner.

She was a girl named Lisa who from that moment on became my friend and we remained friends throughout the years. There was nothing that we did not do together. We were literally inseparable.

This childhood experience reflects a human and a spiritual principle. First, we choose someone and then we make a bond of friendship so that nothing will separate us. What must it mean for our Lord Jesus to have said in John 15, I chose you, and for us then to choose Him as our Lord? When we respond to His choice, we're united with Him and to be united with Jesus means no longer doing anything alone, no longer suffering alone, no longer thinking and planning alone.

To my great joy, I recently heard someone say, I discuss everything from morning till evening with my Lord Jesus. Jesus is calling all of us to such a relationship with Him. It is as if He were saying, don't you know whom you are allowed to belong to? You're not alone anymore.

You no longer have to stand alone in your daily struggles and problems. You may have a share in everything that is mine and I will bear with you everything that causes you trouble, worry, and pain. Oh, if only we didn't live so apart from Him.

Jesus has chosen each one of us and made a covenant of partnership with us. He is waiting for us to keep that covenant and He is grieved when we don't let Him share everything with us. For example, think how sad it is when there's a brick wall between husband and wife, when they no longer communicate with one another, no longer do anything together.

However, nothing could be more wonderful than when we are united with our Lord Jesus, when we can say, my Lord Jesus, you see that I can't go on, but you have chosen me and because you have made the covenant with me, I'll trust you and believe that you'll work everything out. Yes, I will believe and I will expect this from you. From unity with Jesus flows streams of blessing and rich fruit for our lives.

Oh, make me Thine, take all I love and treasure, my life, my honor, if that brings thee pleasure and shows my love, yes, make me Thine. You have been listening to a program written by Basilea Schlink of the Little Land of Canaan. To learn more about how God lives and works today, visit us at our website, www.canaan.org. That's K-A-N-A-A-N dot org.

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