FACE TO FACE
02nd Jul 2025
We have had a very busy time over the past week. Last Thursday we took the train to Cornwall, a four hour journey to be present at the Thanksgiving Service for a 97 year old friend, who had been promoted to glory. On Saturday we drove over 200 miles to Leeds to celebrate the 1st birthday of our great-grandson.
For us it was very important to be at both events. We could have watched the service in Cornwall online; we could have sent a video message to the birthday party. We wanted to be with the family in Cornwall and to speak particularly to the two sons whose father had died. It was important to us to be with our family for this 1st Birthday celebration.
We are living in a digital age when it is easy to send a text message, to put our news on social media, and believe we have really connected with friends and family. There is so much loneliness in our today’s world, so it is really important to connect with people ‘face to face.’
In our relationship with Father God, it is important to spend time in His presence communicating face to face. In Exodus 33:11 it says, “The Lord would speak with Moses face to face as a man speaks with his friend.”
When Paul is speaking about Moses in 2 Corinthians 3:18, he is encouraging us, His new covenant people to know we can also have this same life transforming connection, he says, “And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever increasing glory, which comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”
However, Paul is acutely aware of the vital need for ‘face to face’ contact with our fellow believers, in 2 Corinthians 7:6 he says, “But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus.”
We also need the fellowship that comes from belonging to a church, where we can interact with friends and have ‘face to face’ contact with one another. Hebrews 10:25 says, “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another - and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”
Covid was very isolating to us all, and many chose to experience church “online”, which was great at the time. Some have continued this, and so have isolated themselves from other believers.
Are you spending ‘face to face’ time with the Godhead? Is there someone you need to visit in person, to encourage and build up?
by Charles Sibthorpe
