Nothing Between

We sometimes let something or someone get between Christ and us, but we should let nothing come between “our souls and our Savior.”

Years ago, I met a lady in her thirties – let’s call her “Jan” – who said she had a Christian upbringing and had gone to some good meetings. She told about a special evening. Our conversation went like this:

“I was slain in the Spirit at a church one night,” Jan said.

“I’ve never had that happen to me,” I said. "What was it like?”

“A young evangelist put his hands on my head and prayed for me,” she said. “I went down on the floor. It was wonderful.”

“That must have been encouraging,” I said. “How are you doing with the Lord, now?”

“Well, I’m not where I should be,” Jan said.

“What happened?” I asked.

She paused and said, “Well, I’m in a relationship.”

She said no more about her “relationship.” I sensed she probably lived with a man who was unwilling to commit to marriage. She had let someone come between her soul and her Savior.

I wondered if Jan was “saved” but living in a “back-slidden condition.” I also wondered if she had ever really been saved. Many of us grow up knowing how to talk the talk about church and Christianity. Some of us, moved by true Holy Spirit conviction, go to altars, shed tears and make commitments, but various things happen to the seed that was sown (Mark 4:1-20).

For the converted, life is not easy. “We tend to live ‘in’ and ‘out’ of the Word,” a friend told me. Fellowship with Christ can wax and wane (strengthen and weaken). One day we we’re “walkin’ on water,” and the next day, we’re hollering, “Jesus, take the wheel!” The writer of Hebrews tells us to “lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us” (Hebrews 12:1).

A song called “Nothing Here to Hinder Me” contains these lyrics: “Many times, I’m tossed about / Many times, I do without / Many times, my heart is burdened down with care / But I know, if I’ll stand true / That some day He’ll see me through / If I won’t let nothing here hinder me.” The chorus contains these words: “I don’t want nothing here to hinder me / For someday his blessed face I long to see / It makes no difference what the cost / Or how heavy my cross / I don’t want nothing here to hinder me.”

Daniel “purposed in his heart” that he would not “spoil’ himself by eating “the king’s meat” in Babylon. Through the Holy Spirit’s power, we can purpose to let nothing hinder our relationships with Christ.

I love the hymn “Nothing Between” by C.A. Tindley. Here are its words:

“Nothing between my soul and the Savior / Naught of this world's delusive dream / I have renounced all sinful pleasure / Jesus is mine! There’s nothing between.

“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! There’s nothing between.

“Nothing between, like worldly pleasure / Habits of life, though harmless they seem / Must not my heart from Him ever sever / He is my all! There’s nothing between.

“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.

“Nothing between, e’en many hard trials / Though the whole world against me convene / Watching with prayer and much self-denial / Triumph at last, with nothing between.”