God Came Near
Photo Credit: Gerd Altmann, via Pixabay
When you go through difficult times, you learn quickly who your real friends are. Some people press in when you are in pain. They step right over the mess in your living room and bring a casserole dish into your bare kitchen. True friends listen and pray and choose to remain present even if you try to push them away.
I need more friends like this.
I want to be this kind of friend.
This is a calling to be “God with skin on.”
You see, I don’t worship a distant God. My life is surrendered to a Heavenly Father who took on flesh and dwelt among the broken. He came to seek and to save the outcast. He pursues and woos and remains present.
God Himself is with us.
This Advent, may I remember that God came near, and I must do the same.
The God who made the world and everything in it…
He doesn’t play hide-and-seek with us.
He’s not remote; He’s near.
We live and move in Him,
can’t get away from Him!
Acts 17: 24, 27 (MSG)
Something to think about…
I’ve never heard the term “God with skin on.” I like it. A couple of months ago when our family was sick and my husband was traveling, we learned who our friends were. Ones I thought would be there to help us out, or at least ask, didn’t. Ones I didn’t consider, brought meals with out us asking, offered to run to the pharmacy…
It truly is amazing to think on the truth that He came to be with us and near us. This morning as I did my HM reading, the words “no room for them in the inn” fell in such a raw way. I realized anew, there will never be room for Him unless we deliberately & intentionally make the room. And yet, He draws near to us. So grateful to be here this morning to read your thoughts! xoxo
“God with skin on”
I so need to remember this everyday. Thanks Lyli!
Hi Lyli,
These types of friends are the best. I tend to have a few very close friends who have been around forever and then several who come in and out of my life. I’ve never heard of that term before, but I love it.
Thanks for the link up, friend.
Amen, Lyli! May we be the hands and feet of Christ this Christmas, and all the year long. Have a blessed week!
“God came near, and I must do the same.”
That is the gospel right there, Lyli. Beautiful spoken. Now to better enact it in my own life… Thank you.
Lyli,
Such a beautiful truth, it is hard to fully take in sometimes….God came near to us…such love…and oh, for grace to be that kind of friend 🙂 Blessings to you 🙂
I found this through Faith Filled Friday today and had to chuckle a bit as it mirrors my own post. My dad was diagnosed with stage 4 non Hodgkin Lymphoma recently. I have been struck with how many people in relationship to my parents and others to me have said or done nothing. As someone else commented, many who we thought would be there for us haven’t been and some of the deepest care has come from people we would not have thought of. It’s been a gracious reminder to me (see my post) that we need to always be asking God to give us eyes to see those who need the same care that we desire. Thank you for sharing this! We all need reminding to look beyond the busyness of own lives.
I forgot to link up until just now! Your post rings true for me, the longing for real relationship, and the need to BE that kind of friend.