God's Presence Fits Like a Belt
Belts. They are such useful accessories! A properly fitted belt will hold up your trousers, keep your shirt (and maybe even your uncomely parts) safely tucked in, and do it all largely imperceptably.
But an improperly fitted belt. Well, that's a different story. Too loose, and we're tugging up our pants all day long. Too tight, and we feel constricted and uncomfortable, and can't wait to get home and unbuckle it.
Like a well fit belt, God's presence encircles us, supports us, and tucks in our comely parts. And it does so without cinching us so tightly that we cannot move. Rather, He gives us room to be comfortable, to move freely, confidently, knowing He is holding us up and holding us together. Right there, at the center of our being.
“For in him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28, NIV).
"So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand" (Isaiah 41:10, NIV).
Fear and Dread of the Easter Bunny
And what about Jesus? He looks safe enough as a baby in a manger. But it's a different matter when we catch our first good look at the Christ of Easter. The betrayal, the beating, the crucifixion, and even more intimidating, the message—we are all sinners in need of a Savior.
It is at that moment that most take several quick steps backward, content to view Christ from afar.
“Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water” (Hebrews 10:22).
Inside a Bubble of Protective Space
"You are chatting with a friend in a coffee shop," proposes Bernard Asbell:
If you are Americans chatting in a coffee shop in Gainesville, Florida, you probably touch each other twice an hour.
If you are English and chatting in a London coffee shop, you probably do not touch at all.
If you are French and chatting in a Parisian cafe, you touch each other 110 times an hour.
If you are Puerto Rican and chatting in a San Juan coffee shop, you touch each other 180 times an hour.*
"Each of us," says Asbell, "protects his feelings of safety and comfort by living in a 'bubble' of protective space that we unconsciously maintain around ourselves--'an area with an invisible boundary … into which intruders may not come,' says Robert Sommer, a leading researcher of 'personal space.' …
Anyone entering this buffer zone makes us feel jittery, particularly if the intruder is a stranger, and we hastily adjust our protective distance even as we carry on doing something else."
*Based on research by Sidney M. Jourard, "Touch" Study, 1966.
In your relationship with God, with whom do you identify? Are you more like a Puerto Rican who reaches out to touch Him some three times a minute? Or are you more like a Brit who holds God at bay in your "bubble of protective space?"
"Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you" (James 4:8, NASB).