At breakfast, Judy and I like to think of hymns and spiritual songs that have impacted us in our lives. We are often triggered by something in our morning devotional. One particular morning, we read Oswald Chambers’ thoughts about the maturing of our relationship with our heavenly Father. As we grow spiritually, we come to the place where “there is no distance between the Father and you.” Are you there? I’m getting closer to that goal, but I’m certainly not there yet.

Judy and I thought of an old hymn written by the son of a slave in the late 1800s. The title says a lot: Nothing Between. The first verse starts:

Nothing between my soul and the Savior,

The following verses begin to illustrate the kinds of things that might get between us and God:

Nothing between, like worldly pleasure;
Habits of life, though harmless they seem,
Nothing between, like pride or station;
Self or friends shall not intervene;
Though it may cost me much tribulation,
I am resolved, there’s nothing between.

And the chorus firms up the composer’s commitment:

Nothing between my soul and the Savior,
So that His blessed face may be seen;
Nothing preventing the least of His favor;
Keep the way clear! Let nothing between.

So, I am thinking today…what is between me and my Savior Jesus? Habits? Pride? Family or friends? Does my consideration of those things hinder my relationship with Jesus? And how does having nothing between me and my Savior play out in my life?

When we are in that close relationship with our Lord, it means that questions we might have about our present or our future are turned into trust. Trust of a loving Father who wants the best for us. As Chambers puts it, when we are fully submitted to the Lord and His life for us, “…your understanding will be perfectly clear, and you will come to the place where there is no distance between the Father and you, His child….”

Humanly, we cannot achieve that kind of relationship. With God’s Holy Spirit at work, and our willingness to submit and fully trust Him, the daily questions of life will become less and less.

Our goal should be…Nothing Between.
God’s best,