Closer Than Before

Hebrews 11:6 “ And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him”

Image by: Hanna Postova on Unsplash

Dear Dreamer,

Why do you stand at a distance when you can come close to God?

I write to you today to tell you the story of Jesus Christ, the son of the living God. Jesus is the reason we can all have access to freedom because of his sacrifice of dying for our sins.

If you will join me in this journey I would love to tell you a short story about who Jesus is.

Let’s imagine it was a sunny day in the city of Nazareth when Mary, a virgin, was visited by the angel Gabriel. Gabriel spoke to Mary and told her she would become pregnant and carry the son of God. Now, Mary (like most of us reading this story) wondered how could this be true if she was a virgin. The angel confirmed to her it would be done through the power of the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:26-38).

Mary consented with joy, honor, and faith that the words the angel spoke were true. Fast Forward, we see Jesus walking about the city of Jerusalem (Mark 10:32-34) as a grown man .

The streets are full of people and many murmurs are echoing about the man who calls himself the Messiah , the Son of the living God. At this point in Jesus’ life, he had created a legacy of doing what God said even though it made the Pharisees and the teachers of law very upset.

But, the Pharisees and teachers of law grew more frustrated than usual and finally decided it was time to kill Jesus. These men had a whole secret operation brewing behind the scenes of Jesus’ daily coming and going up until the day they were able to execute their plans. And finally the day had come. It was time to crucify Jesus.

You may be wondering, at this point in the story, what does this have to do with me? The truth is, this is no regular story, it is not a folktale...this is a real life account of the life and death of Jesus and it has everything to do with YOU.

God loves us so much that he sent his ONLY son to die for our sins so that we could have access to him (God) (John 3:16-18).

God saw the condition of our hearts after the fall of man (another story we can look into; see Genesis) and knew we needed a savior so instead of letting us perish in our sin and dysfunction God sent a solution to our problem. God sent Jesus.

That’s how much God loves us, how much he loves YOU. He took into consideration that no human person could resolve the problem we had with sin so he sent his holy and perfect son Jesus to do so for us.

Jesus in Gethsemane… Night had fallen and the streets are silent.Only the prayers of Jesus echoed softly in the wind as the assassins geared up to seize him. The scene shifts and we see Jesus in the midst of his betrayal (Matthew 26::47-56). With a kiss from a “friend” the plan to arrest Jesus was in motion (Mark 14:43 -46). Now the commencement of his trial and crucifixion was set in place. After long excruciating hours of hanging on the cross, after being beaten, spit on, and mocked, Jesus finally took his last breath (Matthew 27:26-50).

Then something happened.

… the veil inside the temple was torn in two (Matthew 27:51-53) . Its dazzling array of purples, blues ,and many beautiful colors were ripped from top to bottom (see topic The Veil in Jesus Day. ‘The Veil Was Torn in Two’).

Let’s pause here for a moment. Why do you think this moment in scripture is important?

Here is a little history on why this was a super awesome and symbolic response after the death of Jesus. In bible times, we see the veil as a symbol of separation from unclean people and the Holy place of the presence of God. Now, in order to enter this Holy place the priest or the high priest would enter on a certain day (presumably once a year ) (Leviticus 16) .

In other words, there were restrictions in place. No one was able to come in at anytime they felt like it. They had to follow the law that was set in place. So, the tearing of the veil was a monumental gesture that “the barrier between God and human was removed..” (Tyndale 27.51 footnote, pg 1607 NLT).

There is direct access to God through Jesus.

The death of Jesus gives us ALL access ( Hebews 9:1-15; 10:19-22) *Jesus is the GREAT HIGH PRIEST* .

The price he paid for you and I to be free from sin and for us to walk in relationship with him is a price that’s too lofty for any normal human to pay. Now the catch is, we must accept Jesus as Lord and Savior in order to get to God because Jesus is one with the Father and only Jesus can show us the way to the Father (God) (Romans 3:22). The beautiful thing is we all can come at anytime to Jesus and ask him into our hearts and lives that he may show us the Father.

We can do this by repenting of our sins and confessing that Jesus died for our sins and rose again with all power in his hand and that he will return one day to get his people.

“If you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that Jesus is the son of the living God and that he died for your sins then you are saved” (Romans 10:9-11) and can now draw close to God our father.

Salvation through Jesus allows us to live a life where we become his friend, God’s child,an heir of the kingdom, and so much more. You will now have direct access,complete freedom, wholeness, and eternity with God through Jesus.. (Romans 8:14-16)

What breaks my heart the most is that most people choose to not to draw close to God. Maybe its because it’s uncomfortable, or “weird”, or something you didn’t know you could do, but I am here to tell you that the best thing you could do is accept Jesus in your life and draw close to God.

There is fullness of Joy, there is peace , there is hope, love, a sound mind, victory, strength, protection,and so much more. This doesn’t mean your life will get easier. However, it does mean that you now know you have someone who fights FOR you and he wins. His name is Jesus.

All God wants is a real relationship with you. He doesn’t want you at a distance any more. HE gives us a choice every day to choose him, he has already made up his mind about us and his decision is to love us no matter what. But you can’t have access to the things of God if you don’t love and follow Jesus/God.

Sadly there will be a day where we won’t always have this opportunity to say yes to God. You can make a choice today! God is waiting with open arms and he will protect you. So don’t allow fear nor shame to stop you from drawing close. Come to him just as you are.

God loves you!

Sincerely, T’keyah