James 4
We are as close to God as we choose to be.
"Come near to God and he will come near to you.." James 4:8
A few questions for today…
Who is responsible for the closeness of my relationship with God?
If God seems distant to me, I wonder who has moved.
Am I a robot that God controls or am I culpable for my actions?
What are the consequences of my actions when it comes to my relationship with God?
James says loud and clear that I am responsible. I must act. I must exercise my volitional muscles. I must choose godliness. I must decide to move nearer to God. If I sit back and expect God to do it all I will never experience his closeness.
God does want to come near to us but he will not force himself upon us. He is waiting for us to become seekers. To seek hard after God is the way to experience the nearness of God.
When we link up with God then his redemptive power flows through us. So the prayer should not be this, "Lord, come near." The prayer should be, "Lord, help me to want to be near to You. Lord, help me to overcome my reluctance, help me to overcome my love of the world. Lord, help me to have the heart of a seeker."
Jerry Bridges in his book "The Pursuit of Holiness" puts it this way, "We are 100 percent responsible for the pursuit of holiness, but at the same time we are 100 percent dependent upon the Holy Spirit to enable us in that pursuit."
The pursuit of holiness is not a pull-yourself-up-by-your-own bootstraps approach, it is a realization that our hearts don't naturally seek after God. We no more seek after God than a robber seeks after a policeman. But as Christ followers we want to seek after God and so we need his help each step of this journey. So today take the necessary steps to draw closer. Ask for the Holy Spirit to give you the strength and desire to seek the Lord. Our responsibility is to ask, God's responsibility is to supply.
No comments:
Post a Comment