Draw Near To God

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. This is a fairly straight-forward statement from James 4:8 and it has been proving true for me this week. The past few days at Calvary with the Life Action team have been days of drawing near to God. For me personally, the act of coming to church services while not being responsible for the content of those services has provided an opportunity to stop and listen to God, to consider my walk with Christ, to look at how I am leading my family, to ponder how I do ministry. As I have drawn near to God and given time for His Word to soak into my life, I find that I am wanting in many areas.

Last evening we participated in an exercise where we used a tool called Put Off…Put On.  This simple sheet of paper lists 42 specific sins that are clearly named in Scripture and 42 alternative righteous acts. We were challenged to look back at the just last seven days of our life and consider whether we had committed any of these sins. We were then challenged to confess and repent of any sins we had committed. I have to say that when I heard the parameter of seven days placed on the timeline, I was feeling pretty good. That false comfort provided by self-righteousness quickly dissipated as I began working through the list. When I had finished, I was pretty certain that I had committed 31 of the 42 sins listed in the past seven days. I would have been at 40 had the time frame been just a little longer.

It was humbling to go before the Lord and confess all the things that He already knows to be true about my life. Although confessing sin is not a pleasurable activity by any measure, the resulting forgiveness brings joy beyond measure. Going into this week, I had sensing a significant lack of joy in my life, after working through the Put Off…Put On sheet, I understand why there hasn’t been joy. Unconfessed sin had robbed me of joy.  Years ago I heard someone say that confession without repentance is just bragging. I get that saying and my deepest desire is that my confession will be accompanied by lasting repentance in every area of my life.

Following Christ is not one time experience, but a day by day journey. Sanctification doesn’t happen overnight but over a lifetime. My journey today includes continuing to draw near to God through prayer, through the Word, and through simple obedience. Obedience in the little things this week has brought a new level of joy to my life. I have drawn near to God and He has drawn near to me. I am looking forward to the rest of this week at Calvary as we continue to apply Biblical truth to our lives.

If you are in the Holland area, whether you normally attend Calvary or not, I encourage you to join us for the next few days.  It may change your life. 

Soli Deo Gloria,

Trent