The Great Length To Relate
By: Kristen L. McNulty
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"I can't tell you that I'll never fall
Heaven knows my heart
And I can't tell you that I'll never ask
Why is it so dark?
And sometimes do I talk to walls?
Cause I feel so hard
And I lose hold of myself
But You're not very far
I can't tell you that I'm getting this
And I can't tell you that I see Your way
But I have Your Word
And as the sun will shine Your mercy's mine
Please mercy shine."
Steph Ratcliff- Can't Tell You
I'm sure you know some Christians who seem to have it all together. They always seem to: be smiling, have perfect lives, be experiencing God, and never experience doubts.
After an encounter with a Christian like that, it's easy to walk away thinking that there must be something seriously wrong with you. I don't know about you, but there are times where I don't have the joy of the Lord and there are times where my life circumstances are horrible and there are times where I doubt and there are days when it feels like God is a million miles away.
One of the reasons I love the song "Can't Tell You" so much is because of the honesty voiced by the writer. Unfortunately, on the most part though, we as Christians aren't being honest with one another. Why? I think it's because we believe in order to be a Christian, things must always be perfect and if they are not, it's because we don't have enough faith or we have some sort of spiritual issue. I hate to break it to some of you, but the Christian life is not a perfect one and it was never intended to be.
Jesus, who happened to be the only sinless man to ever walk this earth, did not have a perfect life. In fact, His life was far from it! Jesus experienced rejection, persecution, grief, frustrations, abandonment, and ultimately was executed for a crime He did not commit. Now if the Son of God experienced these things, it leads me to believe that it is only natural for you and I to experience the same as followers of Christ.
You may try to cover it up, you may try to look good on the surface, but you are no different than anyone else. All of our lives are a far cry from being perfect. So if we've settled that issue, then what are we supposed to do with these imperfect and often painful things that we experience? We can take it to the One who has been there.
Jesus walked through the muck and mire of this earth; He has experienced both the highs and lows of life. And why did He do this? Well as the author of the song "Can't Tell You" has said; He did it so that nothing we experience on this earth could ever separate us from Him.
As Romans 8:35-38 says:
Can anything ever separate us from Christ's love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or are hungry or cold or in danger or threatened with death? (Even the Scriptures say, "For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.") No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.
And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from his love. Death can't, and life can't. The angels can't, and the demons can't. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, and even the powers of hell can't keep God's love away.
You see friends, the fears, the doubts, the pain, and the heartache of our lives could never separate us from our Savior. In fact, they bring us closer to His love and Grace because we all know that being able to relate with someone lays the groundwork for a great relationship.
So remember: no matter where you are in life and no matter what you are experiencing- you are not alone. Besides being united with other Christians, you've got a personal Savior who loved you enough to experience life in order to be able to relate with you.
This devotional was aired as a part of the Making A Difference Christian Radio Show.