Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, sinners, and purify your hearts, double-minded people!   James 4:8 HCSB

We want to be close to people for a number of reasons. If we value what they have to say, we can hear them better when we are close to them.

If we are attracted to someone we may want to be close enough to touch them. If we are hurting, being close enough for them to hug us may bring us comfort. When we are around our loved ones, we want to be close for all of the above reasons.

Many people will pay good money to get a backstage pass so they can see a celebrity up close. Some may go to great lengths to be near someone they admire.

How close are you to God? Do you want to be close enough to hear Him and to communicate with Him? Do you want to be close enough to be comforted by Him? Do you admire Him enough to go to some trouble to get close to Him?

Scripture tells us God is with us always. What do you do with that? Have you spent much of your life trying to walk away from Him? Or, do you strive to draw closer?

God doesn’t force Himself on us. He is there for us, but we can choose whether or not we want to be in close relationship with Him. We are told in Isaiah 59:1 that the LORD’s hand is not too short to save and His ear is not too deaf to hear.

God is close enough to save us. He is close enough to hear us. But there’s a but. Verse 2 says, “But your iniquities have built a barrier between you and God, and your sins have made Him hide his face from you so that He does not listen.

Sin gets in between us and God. It builds a barrier. This is why James said in 4:7 that we must submit to God, resist the devil and the devil will flee from us.

If we submit to God, He will be there for us. He will gladly help us to resist the devil. If we desire to be cleansed we need only to confess our sins to Him and repent. 1 John 1:9 tells us if we confess our sins, He is faithful to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

This is how we get into a right relationship with Him. This is how we enter into a close, intimate relationship with our Lord and Savior.

Take a moment today to think about your relationship with Jesus Christ. Is it as close as it needs to be? Is it as close as it was when you were first saved? Do you have a strong desire to be continually in His presence and do His will?

When we get to heaven it won’t be separated by religions. There won’t be a Baptist section, a Catholic section, a Presbyterian section, a Methodist section and so on. It’s not about the religion it’s about the relationship. For us it should be all about our relationship with Jesus Christ.

Everything else should take a back seat to our relationship with Him. If we focus on Him and strive to be in a right relationship with Him we will obey His commandments. We will love the Lord with all our heart, all our soul and all our strength.

We will love our neighbors as we love ourselves. We will treat others as we want to be treated. We will be eager to go forth and make disciples of others.

I ask you to take a moment to really think about how close you are to Jesus Christ. All we have to do is draw near to Him and He will draw near to us. We draw near to Him through prayer when we talk to Him. We draw near when we study our Bibles and listen to what He has to say to us. We draw near by going to His house and worshiping with our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. We draw near by serving Him.

This close relationship gives us the desire to cleanse ourselves and purify our hearts and minds. You can’t be in a close relationship with Him if you don’t come closer. Draw near to Him today.

Have a great day!