Do you need a hug from God?
Maybe His comfort and assurance?
An arm around your shoulder from the one who deeply loves you?
From the only one who can make things right in your life?
There are times when it is obvious that things are NOT within our control, and this can bring a sense of overwhelming distress, and fear, loneliness, or frustration, cynicism, and hopelessness.
Is this bad?
Yes and no.
It’s bad to feel these things because they chase away joy and bring darkness and anxiousness into our hearts. But sometimes the pain we experience also reveals an injury or sickness that needs to be treated.
When these difficulties come and shake our lives, that’s when we finally realize we need help. And until we seek that help, we suffer in our distress.
Who then can help us in all these things, but God alone?
Psalm 34 reveals how much God cares for us:
4 I sought the LORD, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.
5 They looked to Him and were radiant, and their faces were not ashamed.
6 This poor man cried out, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.
7 The angel of the LORD encamps all around those who fear Him, and delivers them.
8 Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!
If you are reading this, then something inside you knows you need God.
A lot of people believe there’s a god, but haven’t truly tried to know Him. He promises great blessings to those who do:
“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you, says the LORD” Jeremiah 29:11
However, we live in both a physical world and a spiritual world.
When we put our trust in God, He becomes our hope to live each day on earth. He also gives us eternal life, and welcomes us into his Glorious Kingdom when we perish:
“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the LORD Forever.” Psalm 23:6
Most people believe that when we physically die, our spirit will live on in some kind of heaven. When we imagine heaven, we think of a place where there is joy, and beauty, love, and great peace. This is also how the Bible describes eternity with God:
“And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” Revelation 21:4
So in heaven, there is no pain, or sorrow, or tears. It is full of God’s goodness, love, and peace.
But how can heaven be like this, if people will be there?
Even “good” people get frustrated, or say unkind things, or tell little lies, or make other people feel bad sometimes. Other people have certainly made us feel bad, and they weren’t necessarily what we’d call “bad” people. In fact, people we love have hurt us, and we’ve hurt them.
And that’s not even counting the really cruel, horrible, spiteful, selfish, oppressive things people have done—on purpose.
So, when we go to heaven, won’t it be just like that again?
But heaven isn’t like it is here, and we wouldn’t want it to be. God explains:
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8-9
Heaven is perfect. Sterile. Untainted. Pure. Spotless. But we are Contaminated. And just like a hospital operating room, we must submit to the sanitary protocol in order to enter.
The filth we carry is our flawed human nature—our sins. God’s standard must be high, or heaven will not be a sanctuary from this fallen world.
As humans, our problem is both an imminent physical death, AND a spiritual death, and the cause of death is sin. But God loves us so much, that our problem is His problem too. His plan from the very beginning was to solve our problem Himself:
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23
Since God could not invite us into heaven and pollute His Sanctuary with sin, He devised a plan to LEAVE His Sanctuary, and to cleanse us from our sin, so we can spend eternity with Him.
God took on the form of a man, lived a sinless life, then paid for our debts by dying in our place. Then He proved that we will have eternal life when He rose to life again on the third day:
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” John 3:16-17
When we believe that God paid for our sins through Jesus, He gives us eternal life with Him:
“If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” Romans 10:9-10
Jesus said in John 10: 30, “I and My Father are one,” and that:
“All should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him. Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.” John 5:23-24
All we have to do is let Jesus wash away our sins so that we can enter into eternity with God.
We are like children playing in the mud of the world. Even though we know our Father doesn’t want us to, we do it anyway. But the house where our Father lives is spotless, and now we can’t enter, or we’ll track in the filth.
So He stands in the doorway, looks at us, hanging our heads in regret, and says, “Okay, my little one, I’ll take care of it.” Then He strips down, comes out of the house, cleans us off Himself, and carries us in.
It’s a loving gesture that solves both of our problems: the longing to be together, and the filth that spoils our eternal home.
You can tell Him, “No, I don’t want to do that.” It’s your decision.
But then you can’t come into the house.
God loves you so much, that He went on a long, painful journey to rescue you, and bring you home.
“The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:28
Jesus is a fact of History.
Jesus was God, reaching out to you, holding you, and lifting you up to Himself again.
He has a good plan for your life.
“I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.” John 10:10-11
Jesus is the only one who can fill the emptiness in your heart.
So if you need comfort from the one who made you, and knows you, and loves you with an everlasting love, then embrace Jesus.
Accept His offer, and begin your new life of abundant joy–both in this world, and in eternity.
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