Not long ago, I was sitting outside my house, reading my Bible, and I suddenly felt this intense longing. I found myself saying, “Jesus, I wish you were physically here. I wish you would sit next to me on my porch, open my Bible, and talk to me about it. I wish I could see your eyes and hear your voice.”
In that moment, I was reminded of the scriptures where Jesus said, “Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away…” (John 16:7, ESV). How many of you have heard that scripture? I’ve heard it since I was a little boy. The problem is that I’m not sure I ever believed it. I’ve honestly often thought that it would be better if Jesus was with me right now. I get on a plane and think, “I wish he was sitting next to me on this plane.” It'd be a perfect world to have Jesus sitting on one side of me and my wife sitting on the other!
Here's what Jesus said to me, though, that time on my porch. “Gary, if I was here on earth, at best, you’d get five minutes of my time per year because there’d be a big line.”
If Jesus was physically here on earth, he would be limited to the capacity of humanity. There would be only so much that he could do or say to each one of us before it’d be like “Okay, next. Next person. Next.”
Now that his Spirit and truth is living in us, he is with you all the time! He never has to leave you to eat or sleep or see someone else. I thought that when the Bible says, “He will never leave you or forsake you” (Deuteronomy 31:6), it meant kind of doctrinally. God won’t allow me to ever not be a Christian; he’ll hold me in my faith.
Now I see that verse as promising that Christ will never leave me. He’s right here with me. He’ll be on the airplane with me. Anytime I’m in my car and I want to talk to him, he’s right there. That actually is much better than him being physically here, isn’t it?