This year I saw the Hope Diamond, from a distance, through thick bullet-proof glass, over the heads of a crowd of people. I’m sure it’s beautiful, but I couldn’t really tell, under the circumstances.
We have beautiful hardwood floors that we cover up with rugs to protect them.
On Saturday a student showed me his new watch and said, “It’s cool, but it’s hard to see the hands.” I reached over and peeled off the protective film that it ships with. “That’s better,” he said.
Sometimes the best things there are to experience in life are held at arm’s length. It’s for their protection, or for ours. We know it’s amazing, but the protective instinct leaves our amazement unfulfilled.
Wouldn’t it be awesome to hold the Hope Diamond? Wouldn’t it be amazing to take the vinyl off your couch and sit on the upholstery? Wouldn’t it be refreshing to walk right in to the presence of God, unhindered, unashamed, unafraid?
A recent invitation to follow Jesus made me wonder if we haven’t left a protective layer between those in our churches and youth groups, a layer that keeps them at arm’s length from fully experiencing the grace of God.
I will estimate: more than a hundred students expressed a first-time commitment to follow Christ; close to 700 students indicated they were off track and wanted to walk with Christ again; and perhaps a couple dozen raised their hands to say they were living in the fullness that Christ desired for them.
Now, I will be among the first to acknowledge that God’s mercies are new every morning, and that I need them anew every morning. But how is it that in such a room, so many would say they have eyed the Hope Diamond through glass, and so few would say they held it in their hands.
God’s desire for us, made possible by the blood of Christ, is that we would not be at arm’s length, but that we would abide with Him, that we would enter into His presence, that we would walk with Him—not at arm’s length, but hand-in-hand.
At that moment, the Temple curtain was ripped in two, top to bottom. There was an earthquake, and rocks were split in pieces. What’s more, tombs were opened up, and many bodies of believers asleep in their graves were raised. (After Jesus’ resurrection, they left the tombs, entered the holy city, and appeared to many.) Matthew 27:51-53, MSG