Many believers, even after encountering the cross, still carry a false sense of separation from God. They think they honor Him by seeing Him far above them—holy, distant, untouchable—while viewing themselves as unworthy and low. But Scripture reveals something far greater.
Separation was not the original design. It was the first consequence of sin. When Adam fell, it was man who hid—not God who withdrew. That way of thinking came through the fall, and it’s the first consequence of sin you find in the garden—not God separating Himself from man, but man separating himself from God. Paul writes in Colossians 1: “We were alienated [from God] and enemies in our minds because of our evil deeds” (Colossians 1:21). Enemies—in our minds. Not because God built a wall, but because our thinking did (see Freedom and Identity in Christ).
This is why the command to repent is so central. Repentance is not groveling. It is not self-loathing. It is a call to change the way you think—to abandon the mindset of distance and take hold of the reality God has accomplished in Christ. Do you remember what ministry is entrusted to the church in 2 Corinthians 5? The ministry of reconciliation. “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself… and He has committed to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God” (2 Corinthians 5:18–20) (see What the Cross Did).
Our ministry is not preaching the separation between God and man, but the reconciliation of man to God through the death of Jesus. We are not called to remind the world of its distance. We are called to announce that the distance has been destroyed. From God’s point of view, all the world has been reconciled to Him through Jesus. So we implore you on God’s behalf—be reconciled. In other words: This is the way God thinks about you. So repent and change the way you think about God.
Separation is an illusion that lives in the mind as a result of sin.
Healing, miracles, and signs are given not simply to fix broken situations, but to visibly demonstrate that separation has been ended. Every healing is a declaration: “The kingdom of God has come near to you.” Every miracle is a witness: “You are not far from God—He has drawn near.” They are not exceptions; they are reminders of the reconciliation that now defines reality.
Separation is an illusion that lives in the mind as a result of sin.
It’s what all the healing and miracles are for—to demonstrate the love and kindness of God toward mankind. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Repent. Stop thinking in the old way. Start thinking in the new way, and you will be transformed (see The Power of True Confession).
This is why God hates sin—not because a rule was broken, but because the relationship was fractured. Sin makes man hide. It convinces him he no longer belongs. It teaches him to fear judgment, to dwell in shame, to project blame, just like Adam and Eve did in the Garden. Sin doesn’t just corrupt behavior. It poisons identity. When sin poisons identity, man forgets the image he was created to bear. He forgets he was made to walk with God, to reflect His likeness, to live in His presence without fear. Reconciliation is not just the removal of guilt; it is the restoration of true image and belonging.
Christians who have never heard the true biblical message of repentance often still walk in the unrepentant mindset of the flesh. They drone on and on about their sin and separation, reinforcing the lie rather than the truth. But Scripture declares that we are one. “He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him” (1 Corinthians 6:17) (see Union, Not Separation).
There is no separation. Paul compares it to marriage—just as a man and a woman become one flesh, so we become one spirit with God when we are joined to Him. In marriage, two lives are no longer merely alongside each other; they are interwoven, sharing one covenant life. So it is with our union with Christ. We are not merely companions to God—we are one with Him, His life pulsing through ours, His Spirit breathing in us. I do not think of myself as someone striving to reach Him. I think of myself as someone who has been united with Him by His own work. I no longer live—Christ lives in me (Galatians 2:20). The life I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
We often quote these Scriptures but rarely let them transform our way of thinking. We give lip service to repentance but cling to the unrepentant mindset—fixated on sin, failure, and separation—rather than believing what God has declared.
As He is, so are we in this world (1 John 4:17).
