Closer to Me

Ephesians 2:12 - 14

Have you have ever felt distant from God? Have you ever thought or maybe even said, “I feel dry and disconnected from God. I wish I could have the enthusiasm I used to have when I first became a follower of Jesus.”? I have talked to numerous people in the 20 plus years that I have been a follower of Jesus and not surprisingly many people have said they have felt this way at least one time or another in their life. I know I have. Maybe you are there now. Maybe your relationship to God feels like you are just going through the motions and it seems like a lifeless routine that you are in and even struggling to keep. I think this is a common occurrence in the Body of Christ. We all have “dry spells” or “dark nights of the soul”, if you haven’t ever had one you will.

CLOSE TO GOD

Vs 12:  "Remember…" Paul tells the reader to remember or reflect on the truth that at one time we were all separated from Christ. I challenged you in a previous post to take some time and think about your life before you became a follower of Jesus Christ. What was your life like? More than likely you lived your life for yourself with very few concerns for others and certainly not a care for God. Before you became a follower of Jesus you were on a whole other plain of life. God was unreachable and distant. Actually He was not even on your radar. This put you at odds with Him and you had neither claim to nor promise of the covenants of God. Isaiah 59:2 reminds us, “but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.” Ultimately you were without hope because you were not alive in Christ; you were dead in your sins. Life without God was miserable and hopeless. There was hostility between you and God. You were here on one side and God was on the other and there was a dark chasm between the two of you.  There was no peace whatsoever.

Vs 13:  "But now…" Once again we encounter another big "but" of the Bible. Since you are now fully alive in Jesus Christ… This very moment. Today. Now. You have been brought near to God by the blood of Jesus Christ. You know that the blood of Jesus is a cleansing blood but it is also a drawing blood. Because of the shed blood of Jesus Christ you are now close to God. The dark chasm that existed between you and God has now been joined together by the cross (or shed blood of Jesus Christ). There is now no separation between you and God. The Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 8:1, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” No longer do we get what we deserve.

Vs 14: Since this is the case you now have peace with God and Jesus is your peacemaker. Romans 5:9, 10 says, “ Much more then, because we have now been declared righteous by his blood, we will be saved through him from God’s wrath. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more, since we have been reconciled, will we be saved by his life?” Because of Jesus Christ and his shed blood the war between you and God is over. You are now one in Christ and the wall of hostility that separated us from God has been torn down.

 Unfortunately for many of us we stray from God or we allow our relationship to grow distant. Author and former Pastor John Piper writes, “(God wants us to) get near (to Him), that we have fellowship with Him, that we not settle for a Christian life at a distance from God, that God would not be a distant thought, but a near and present reality. You can do it while standing absolutely still, or while lying in a hospital bed, or while sitting in a pew listening to a sermon.” He goes on and writes, “Drawing near is not a physical act. It‘s not necessarily going to a Church building. Or walking to an altar at the front. It’s an invisible act of the heart.” R. Kent Hughes, Pastor of College Church in Wheaton, IL writes, “(how does one draw near to God? In a word, prayer. The essence of prayer is the heart drawing near to God. Prayer is the soul’s desire to come to Him, to receive His love, to feel His power as we conform to His will.”

The reality is God is not distant, unreachable and unknowable. He is here today and He is close to you and this is true because of Jesus Christ. He is active and alive in the believer’s life. He didn’t set the wheel in motion and let things happen the way they happen. He is alive and active in our midst at this moment. He wants you to draw near to Him.

My challenge to you today is draw near to God. He is reaching out to commune with you and wants to be present in your life. It’s never too late to begin and God will never turn a deaf ear to you. If you’re unsure how you can start, I will give you a suggestion; begin by telling God about it. He will hear you and He will help you draw near to Him. Prayer should be the essential part of our Christian lives and is the life line and foundation of the Church. There is power in prayer, God can communicate with you, you can with Him, you just need to be willing to do it.