Easy As Breathing

 "For you were like sheep going astray,but  now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls." (1 Peter 2)
God likens us to sheep, and I have heard it said sheep are the dumbest animals on the planet, and this is why God has mad it easy for us to come back into relationship with Him. God has made it easy for us to be in relationship with Him. Peter recognized this when he told the religious leaders of his day that "we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God." The idea that God is some far off deity that we can not reach is foreign to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. One of the first things Jesus said to the crowds is the "kingdom of God is within you."(Luke 17:21) He told the disciples that when He left he would send The Spirit of God to live with us and be in us. He said on that day we would know that Jesus is in the Father, the believer is in Jesus, and Jesus is in the believer.(John 14:20) This spiritual reality of us being "in Christ" and "Christ" being in us is not some religious mumbo jumbo.  It is the absolute truth and the heart of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We can not focus on any one aspect of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Making our relationship with God as easy as breathing involves understanding the purpose of all the life, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  In His death, Jesus removed sin once for all -  the penalty and the presence of sin in the spiritual life of the believer. Man's sin problem lies more with his lack of faith and attachment to and obsession with the physical realm making him grossly unaware of the spiritual realities of God within.  Having removed sin, the One thing a Righteous God can not tolerate, He is now able to put His Spirit in us - but where in us? Our physical body? No, when Christ was crucified, we were crucified with Him.(Galatians 2:20) We were buried with Him, and when He rose again by the Spirit of God, we were given new birth, a new spirit, a new spiritual life and a new creation. It is in our spirits that God Spirit takes up residence. God announced this through the Prophet Ezekiel :  ²⁶ I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. ²⁷ And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws This spiritual reality is an eternal reality outside of time and space.  God's Spirit lives in our spirit, so communication with God is as easy as breathing, He has made it that simple.  We can communicate with God in our whispers and thoughts. We can listen to Him speak to our hearts and minds.  It is always, constant, never changing.  It is everywhere all the time.  It is grace, truth, love and mercy flowing to us all day long.  We are not far away, we have been brought near through the work of Christ. As close as our next breath.