When Frederick Douglass was young, he and his mother were separated because of slavery.  As Douglass wrote in the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass:

“It is a common custom, in the part of Maryland from which I ran away, to part children from their mothers at a very early age.  Frequently, before the child has reached its twelfth month, its mother is taken from it, and hired out on some farm a considerable distance off, and the child is placed under the care of an old woman, too old for field labor.  For what this separation is done, I do not know, unless it be to hinder the development of the child’s affection toward its mother, and to blunt and destroy the natural affection of the mother for the child.  This is the inevitable result.”

But Frederick’s mother refused to disconnect from her son.  She found out where he had been taken.  Whenever she could, after working hard in the fields all day, she trudged twelve miles to see Frederick, and then had to walk back again that same night to be ready to work at sun-up!  It was her love of her son and dreams of freedom that kept her going.

In 2011, Lee & Low published a book about the love of Frederick’s mother for her son entitled Love Twelve Miles Long by Glenda Armand. *

As wonderful as that love is, it pictures a love that is “longer.”

When we were separated from our Heavenly Father because of our sins, God, in the person of Jesus Christ, left heaven to come to rescue us.

What is the distance from heaven to earth?

For Jesus it was the distance from perfect bliss and life to incredible suffering and death, for He left heaven to die a cruel death on the cross for our sins.

For Jesus it was the distance from being in the presence of His Father to being separated from Him as He bore the sins of the world.  See Matthew 27:46.

For Jesus it was the distance from being a King in His heavenly palace to becoming a slave in the harshest of conditions.

What is the distance from heaven to earth?

Observe how the inspired Apostle Paul describes it:

“Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.  And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross!” – Philippians 2:5-8 NIV

The distance from heaven to earth is really incomprehensible, but Jesus “traveled” that distance because of His love for us and the desire of heaven to save us (1 Timothy 2:4).

“Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, Who gave Himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father.” – Galatians 1:3-4 NIV

God will save and give eternal life to those who place their faith and trust in Jesus (Acts 16:30-31), turn from their sins in repentance (Acts 17:30-31), confess Jesus before men (Romans 10:9-10), and are baptized (immersed) into Christ for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38).  He will continue to cleanse from sin those who continue to walk in the light of His Word (1 John 1:7).

Jesus came an incredibly long way to save you.  Won’t you accept His loving offer?

-- David A. Sargent

* Information gleaned from “An Incredible Example of A Mother’s Love: Review of ‘Love Twelve Miles Long’ by Glenda Armand” at https://rhapsodyinbooks.wordpress.com.

David A. Sargent, Minister

Church of Christ at Creekwood 
1901 Schillinger Rd. S.
Mobile, Alabama  36695

Archived issues of Living Water can be viewed and accessed from our website at: www.creekwoodcc.org