Close Association

July 21

We like to be in proximity to the people we love. The bane of modern existence is that families are separated from one another by great distances because parents must travel extensively in order to perform the requirements of their employment or because children grow up and move away to find jobs.

There is a yearning within the bosom of man to enjoy the intimacy of close association with the people who are important to him. Most relationships thrive on such closeness and many inordinate affairs are entered because that sense of relationship is lacking in marriage where one spouse has grown cold.

What can be done to bridge the vast divide between where an individual wants to be and where he is regarding the sense of unity for which he longs? How can he obtain the oneness he desires with those who are part of his closest circle? According to the Bible, he may achieve the intimacy he yearns to have through truth.

David says in Psalm 145:18, “The Lord is near to all who call on Him, to those who call on Him in truth.” If the Lord draws close to the individual who beseeches Him in truth, surely that individual can depend upon achieving that sense of nearness for which he longs among his associates when he establishes his relationships in truth.