Do You Have a Facebook Relationship with God, or a Face to Face One?

Sometimes we don't personally interact with God or with others because we don't think they will like us, we don't think they will accept us, or we just don't want to risk getting too personal. We therefore avoid that face to face contact as much as we can. There's a popular communication tool called "Facebook" where people can 'post' their faces and communicate with each other without meeting each other face to face. Sometimes I think we do that with God. We don't want to get too involved with Him, but we're willing to write Him now and then.

But there is something about interacting with people face to face that cuts through our facads and our walls, and gets down to the nitty gritty of what relationship was designed by God to be.

We meet God face to face through His Word and through prayer. The psalmist wrote much about face to face contact with God. The following are but a few of the passages:

[When thou saidst], Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek.
Hide not thy face [far] from me; put not thy servant away in anger: thou hast been my help; leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation.
Psalm 27:8-9
Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.
Psalm 80:3
Justice and judgment [are] the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face.
Blessed [is] the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O LORD, in the light of thy countenance.
Psalm 89:14-15

What do you think the Psalmist is saying here about a face to face relationship with God?
Is your relationship with God a face to face one? Do you know the joyful sound of His voice, and the comfort of sitting in the light and warmth of His countenance?

In Hebrews 3:13 and 10:24 it tells us that we need to exhort one another daily and not forsake the assembling of ourselves together. In Acts 2 it says the early church gathered in each other's homes on a daily basis. It doesn't mean they had church services daily, but it does mean that they were always getting together- face to face.

How are your face to face relationships going with your local church family? Are you sharing each other's joys and sorrows, and easing one another burdens? Or are you keeping your distance?

Yours in Him,
Pastor B.