But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. (Ephesians 2:13, NIV)
There’s a magic to the way we see golf on TV. Consider the difficulty of showing the smallest of sport’s many balls on the largest of sport’s many fields. Yet through the years, the cameras bring us closer and the action lands right over there, just across from our couch. Pity those poor fools trudging the course or sitting sun-baked in the bleachers just to catch a distant glimpse of the game’s stars. For us, they shine big and bold in increasingly high definition.
Farness and nearness are, of course, relative terms. For the vast majority of humanity, the other side of the continent is as far away as Ursa Major. But if you have a bit of means and aren’t afraid to fly, “as far as the east is from the west” isn’t so far at all. At least not with a round earth and gravity pulling you in.
In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, distance also takes up relative spaces. For instance, he opened what we call the second chapter with this stark observation: “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sin.” Death is itself both a mere instant from life and infinitely separate from it. In sin, we are a million, million, million miles from Christ—dead and in need of the one thing that can help us: resurrection.
In sin, we are a million, million, million miles from Christ—dead and in need of the one thing that can help us: resurrection.Later in the chapter, Paul’s turned another difference in distance. The Jewish people, he wrote, were “near”; those not Jewish—the Gentiles—were “far away.” But then came Christ, who “himself is our peace.” His light was shed on both groups: “He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near” (Ephesians 2:17). Why to both groups? Because no matter their relative distance from the One through whom “we both have access to the Father by one Spirit” (that is, Jesus), they were on the wrong side of life; they were dead in their transgressions and sins.
From the time we are children, we know how painful it feels to be on the outside looking in. Our later addictions and falsehoods and sinner’s failures reveal that, on our own, it will always be this way. Not matter how close we are now, if the tide is rolling out, we will not reach the shore. We must be rescued. It’s the only way to life.
In her song “Still Rolling Stones,” Lauren Daigle sings of the distance overcome by Jesus, our Savior:
I thought that I was too far gone
For everything that I’ve done wrong
Yeah, I’m the one who dug this grave
But you called my name
You called my name
All at once I came alive
This beating heart, these open eyes
The grave let go
The darkness should have known
You’re still rolling stones
When it comes to sin, we can never run fast enough or far enough to get to God. We must be swept from death by the power of resurrection. Then we may live.
—
Jeff Hopper
February 2, 2021
Copyright 2021 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.
Photo by Jackson Hendry on Unsplash