But since we were torn away from you, brothers, for a short time, in person not in heart, we endeavored the more eagerly and with great desire to see you face to face, because we wanted to come to you—I, Paul, again and again—but Satan hindered us.
1 Thessalonians 2:17-18
There are times that we must be away from the ones we love. This isn’t because we don’t want to be with them, but there are circumstances beyond our control that keep us apart. Perhaps work travel, military service, or mission work has kept you away from family. For Paul, Satan himself attempted to keep him and his team out of Thessalonica.* This time and distance apart was difficult for Paul because of his great love for them.*
Isn’t it interesting that Paul wasn’t satisfied with letters? Isn’t it interesting that Paul didn’t think to himself, “well, at least we can write. That’s good enough?” It was quite the opposite. Paul wanted to come meet with them in person with “great desire.”
The word in Greek was the same word that Jesus used in Luke 22 when He told the disciples that He “earnestly desired” to share the Passover meal with them.* It’s a word that can be translated in negative connotations as lust.*
Why do I share this? Pastor Jay Kim shares in his work Analog Church: Why We Need Real People, Places, and Things in the Digital Age that digital meetings cannot replace in-person meeting.* He shares that the best that digital connection can do is to wet our appetite for in-person connection.* In fact, according to Nan Zhao et al in “Separable Processes for Live ‘In-Person’ and Live ‘Zoom-Like’ Faces”, different parts of the brain fire during in-person meetings than during Zoom meetings with Zoom meetings leaving certain parts of the brain inactive.*
Just as Paul longed for in-person connection with the Church, so too do we long for real, in-person connection. Certain things may keep us apart, but maybe today is a good day for you to ask someone you know to sit across a table from you to chat. Maybe the lack of satisfaction you have after chatting on a video call or after looking on social media is there for a reason. Maybe God designed you for something more tangible.
Today, take a step.
Maybe today the one step God wants you to take is to connect with Him in person. Perhaps today God wants you to use digital technology as a bridge to invite someone to an in-person coffee meeting. Maybe today God wants you to keep trying to connect even when there’s opposition.
Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Take a moment to take that step. Invite Him to speak. He will.
Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus.
Feel free to comment at the bottom of this page! We would love to hear from you!
*Holmes, M. (1998). 1 and 2 Thessalonians (pp. 94–95). Zondervan Publishing House.
Shogren, G. S. (2012). 1 & 2 Thessalonians (pp. 130–134). Zondervan.
Green, G. L. (2002). The letters to the Thessalonians (pp. 150–153). W.B. Eerdmans Pub.; Apollos.
Morris, L. (1984). 1 and 2 Thessalonians: An introduction and commentary (Vol. 13, pp. 65–67). InterVarsity Press.
Beale, G. K. (2003). 1–2 Thessalonians (pp. 89–91). InterVarsity Press.
Weima, J. A. D. (2014). Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament: 1–2 Thessalonians (R. W. Yarbrough & R. H. Stein, Eds.; pp. 195–201). Baker Academic.
Büchsel, F. (1964–). θυμός, ἐπιθυμία, ἐπιθυμέω, ἐπιθυμητής, ἐνθυμέομαι, ἐνθύμησις. In G. Kittel, G. W. Bromiley, & G. Friedrich (Eds.), Theological dictionary of the New Testament (electronic ed., Vol. 3, pp. 168–169). Eerdmans.
Kim, Jay. Analog Church: Why We Need Real People, Places, and Things in the Digital Age. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press. 2020.
Zhao, Nan & Zhang, Xian & Noah, Adam & Tiede, Mark & Hirsch, Joy. (2023). Separable Processes for Live “In-Person” and Live “Zoom-like” Faces. Imaging Neuroscience. 1. 10.1162/imag_a_00027.