My Personal Space

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to feel sympathy for our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet he did not sin. —Hebrews 4:15

An industrial design graduate from a Singapore university was challenged in a workshop to come up with a novel solution to a common problem using only ordinary objects. She created a vest to protect one’s personal space from being invaded while travelling in the crush of crowded public trains and buses. The vest was covered with long, flexible plastic spikes normally used to keep birds and cats away from plants.

Jesus knew what it was like to lose His personal space in the commotion of crowds desperate to see and touch Him. A woman who had suffered from constant bleeding for 12 years and could find no cure touched the fringe of His robe. Immediately, her bleeding stopped (Luke 8:43–44).

Jesus’ question, “Who touched me?” (v. 45), isn’t as strange as it sounds, for He felt power go out of Him (v. 46). That touch was different from the touch of those who merely happened to bump or brush against Him.

While we sometimes do wish to keep our personal space and privacy, the only way we can help a world of hurting people is to let them get close enough to be touched by the encouragement, comfort, and grace of Christ in us.