Have you ever wondered why it is that Christian people feel they are never alone? It’s true, you know—we are never completely alone. In the night of the last supper, Jesus told his disciples:

If you love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it sees him not, neither knows him: but you know him; for he dwells with you, and shall be in you.

It is curious that John calls it another comforter. The Greek word means advocate, and he uses the same expression in 1 John to refer to Jesus Christ. So Jesus is one advocate, and the Spirit of truth is another. But it doesn’t end there. Jesus urges the Father on our behalf, he encourages us, and we encourage one another. We’ll see this explained in the opening to 2 Corinthians.

One of the saddest things about the ministry of Jesus is the number of people who believed him, believed his message, believed what he said about who he was, believed on him, but could not openly confess any such thing. John told us about them in chapter 12:

Nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed on him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue: For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.

This is staggering, because it isn’t being said about leaders in secular society, but about religious leaders in the very religion of Jesus himself. And it is in this context that you can best understand what he said on another occasion. It is recorded in Matthew, chapter 10.

Not long ago, Someone I respect very highly commented that she did not have a relationship with God. She believed in God, she practiced her faith assiduously, but did not believe she had a relationship with God. In a way, this surprised me; but in another way it did not. Because I am not at all sure what people mean when they speak of a relationship with God. I have known people who said that they had an experience with God, but an experience is not a relationship.

You know all too well that when God is out of sight he is out of mind, and believing that he listens requires an element of faith. And we know that some relationships are closer than others. Just how close do you have to be to call it a relationship? And is the relationship horizontal, as between friends; or is it vertical, as between master and servant? And maybe this is where some of us come up short. We believe in God, we even practice our faith, but we have stopped short of relationship.