Becoming closer to God requires that we work at living a life truly led by Jesus.
Lets go back to Alex. Lets say you met Alex and got to know Alex a little, and you decided you wanted to get to know Alex better. Would you not do the things Alex enjoyed so you could spend more time with Alex? Wouldn’t you talk about the things Alex like to talk about? Why would becoming closer to God be any different?
You can’t earn heaven, but you can live more and more like Jesus wants you to with His help. We all know we aren’t perfect, and God knows it too. Jesus told the Pharisees He came to the world for the sinners, not the people who thought they were perfect. But with Jesus’ help we can do more of the good He wants and less of the evil we want. Doesn’t it just make sense that this would help us be closer to Him?
Sin separates us from God. You can’t get closer to someone you separate yourself from. If Alex didn’t ever use foul language, would Alex want to be around us when we are cussing like a drunken sailor? And if we are not around Alex, can we get to know Alex better? Or maybe Alex’s refusal to be around us when we are cussing teaches us something about Alex so in a way, we are getting to know Alex better, but it is not the ideal way for us to learn. Wouldn’t God be just like that?
If you made an effort to be just like Alex so you could spend more time with Alex, wouldn’t you learn a lot about how Alex feels and what Alex thinks? Wouldn’t making this effort, whether you succeeded or failed, teach you a lot about Alex? Why do we think of God so differently? We shouldn’t. God is just a perfect Alex.
- Have you ever tried to change so you could be closer to someone?
- Have you ever notices how people who are married a long time start to act, talk, and even look a lot alike?
- Have you ever watched someone really work at changing so they could be closer to you? Did you appreciate it or feel their love for you?
- Do think that God experiences our love when we try to change so we can be closer to Him?
“obbs”
This is a quote from the book Almost Heaven by Chris Fabry: “But if you’re one of those who says, ‘God can’t love me after what I’ve done’ I want you to hear me loud and clear. I don’t care what you’ve done. I don’t care where you are. I don’t care what mistakes you have made or what laws you’ve broken or what sins you’ve committed. No matter what you have done or what consequences you face for your actions, there is great hope in God. So don’t ever say you’re too bad for him to love you. That’s like saying the ocean isn’t big enough to fit a rowboat. His love and his mercy and grace are so much bigger than anything you could ever even imagine doing wrong. Come to him and ask him to forgive you and he will. You can bank on it.”
I have seen a person change so they could be with someone But I’m not at liberty to say much but this, it took about 5 years to happen and now they are very close. This change involved going from an average student to being on a winning scolastic team. becoming an athalete to this persons own familie’s surprise, and many more changes that I believe helped this person in many relationships. I don’t know where the God relationship is in all of this for them but I do know for a while it was part of the input data.
I have seen this in my relationship with my wife, the outpouring of love that is shown by all of the things she does for me and my family out of pure love, this can only be the merest glimpse of Gods love for us. I have also seen the flip side of this in watching someone fall away from God, in the choices they make, at first small changes or choices, later more drastic and dramatic choices and changes appear, when I talked with them about the changes I was seeing they lash out angrily as I should mind my own business, I still see this person on occasion and feel bad for them in the despair and depression they are often feeling, it is a loss of that closeness to God.
I was reading your comments with my 10 year old daughter. She said it made her sad because it reminded her of her brothers. They started doubting God a little bit, and then more and more, till now they don’t believe at all.
I know that it is sad, but I also remain hopeful and pray for this person as I do for your sons that they will one day see and return, I feel that the prodigal son parable is a reality. How joyful will we all be on that day!