How close to God do you want to be?

God favors no man. Jesus said “seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” (Matthew 7:7) This offer is extended to anyone. God wants you to be as close to Him as possible, but He will not force you. He makes it entirely our choice. The only person that can stop you from being close/closer to God, is you. It’s not your family, your job, or your friends that keep you from God. In James it says “each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his OWN desires and enticed.” (James 1:14) Did you know that even the devil himself cannot keep you from God? Again, in James it says, “Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7) He has to flee. This means he has no power over you, unless you give it to him. The only thing that he can do to you, is give you opportunities for you to stop yourself.

So that means, you will be as close to God as YOU want to be. Nothing, and no one can stop you! But you have to stop settling for less first!

There’s a song that’s flooded our Christian radio stations recently… This song gives the delusion of beauty but is in fact nothing more than a lie. It’s that new Casting Crowns song. You know, the one that’s main chorus line is “Can’t we just be broken together?” Now let’s try saying this line another way and see if we can see the deception - Can’t we just give up trying to be whole? Can’t we just settle for our infirmities, for our broken heart, for our distance from God? Can’t we just settle for pain, and sorrow? Hm...would you agree that these lines are basically saying the same thing? Because I certainly think so. What kind of message is this to the public? More curious is how this song was even approved for being aired on the radio as actually having a “good message”. This song saddens me, but I think it perfectly encapsulates the problem with the Church in America today. The Church has settled for being broken. They’ve stopped trying, stopped fighting, and have settled for settling.

This isn’t what God wants for us though! He doesn’t want us to be broken! Jesus didn’t come to die and rise from the dead so we could just sit around and “be broken together.” He came to make us whole! He came to heal! Jesus came to “bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound.” (Isaiah 61:1) To give us life abundant. (John 10:10) To heal and redeem us.

Let’s think of this rationally. If you believe the lie “can’t we just be broken together” then that’s all you’ll probably ever be. Broken. Because the first step to being made whole is rejecting the brokenness, and wanting to be made whole. We’ve all heard the expression, "the first step is admitting you have a problem". Well likewise the first step is deciding you don’t want to have the problem anymore.

In the Gospels we see the story about Bartimaeus. He was a blind beggar who never would have been healed of his blindness if he accepted this lie. If he said, well I’m blind and there’s nothing I can do about it. If he had settled for his blindness, he never would have cried out to Jesus and he never would have received his healing. But Bartimaeus did NOT accept his brokenness. He KNEW Jesus was the healer, he KNEW Jesus came to mend and restore, he KNEW Jesus would make him whole. Bartimaeus rejected the liars who told him to keep quiet and he cried out all the more. Therefore Bartimaeus received healing.

When we reject our brokenness, our infirmities, our pain and sorrow; and cry out to Jesus knowing that He is our healer: we will be healed. BUT, the first step is rejecting the lie that says we can’t be healed. Rejecting the lie that say’s “let’s just be broken.” Rejecting the lie that says we can’t be as on fire for God as someone like Billy Graham or Beth Moore. You think Billy Graham would ever have become the man he is today if he looked at people like Peter or Paul and said to himself, Whoa, now I can’t have an anointing like them…I can’t be as close to God as they were. NO! Billy Graham became the man he did, because he knew God shows no partiality, because he knew if he gave all to God, that God would give all to him. He rejected every lie that said he couldn’t, and every lie that said God couldn’t.

You can be as close to God as you want to be. You can be healed of anything you want to be. But it takes effort. It takes great work, and great surrender, and great sacrifice.

There are levels of closeness to Jesus, and therefore levels of reward: Reward being more of God, who is “thy exceeding great reward.” (Genesis 15:1) So the more you give of yourself, the more of Him you’ll receive.

The first level (and furthest away from Jesus) is The Multitude – The ones that go to God whenever they’re hungry; whenever they have a need. Then they leave. These people do not rest in Jesus’s presence. They hear Him speak, get some food, and then go home (that’s where they rest). This is what’s wrong with America today, the Church has settled for being the multitude. They’ve settled for being broken. They’ve settled for not being on fire for God; for not resting in His presence. A key difference between the multitude and the rest of the levels of closeness to Jesus is also obedience. When Jesus asks them to do something, they don’t do it (ex. the rich young ruler that Christ told to sell as his belongings and follow Him). Disobedience and never resting in His presence caused the multitude to never receive understanding “hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.” (Matthew 13:13)

The Second level to Jesus can be seen in The 70 Disciples –The ones that spend more time in His presence. This type of people make it their goal to be like Christ. Simply put, they received the title of disciple and that’s what the term means. They were literally in a tutorship on how to live like Jesus. They also both wanted to be and were used by God. They went on mission trips, spread the gospel, and loved in the name of Jesus. We also see that the 70 disciples were obedient to Jesus. When He asked them to do something, they did it. But the difference between this level and the closer levels is that these do not rest in His presence all the time. The 70 did not follow Jesus everywhere. They weren’t with Him at all times.

The Third level can be seen in The 12 Apostles – The ones that rested in Jesus’s presence at all times. These were the ones that were always with Jesus. They followed him anywhere He went. They woke up in the morning and there was Jesus. All day long, they communed with Him. To be able to do this the 12 left everything. They left their jobs and their families. Their love for Christ exceeded their love for anyone else. This level of closeness required their entire life. It was all they were. And what do we see the 12 receive above the other levels? Jesus explained the parables to them. They received the reward of revelations and understanding. These received a greater amount of Godly wisdom. These also received the reward of witnessing all of Jesus’s miracles, and were used to work miracles through themselves.

The Fourth level can be seen in The Three  – Peter, James, and John. These three apostles are often set apart by Jesus in the gospels. Jesus often chose them to be witnesses to some of the most amazing miracles and revelations. Jesus chose only them out of all his apostles to come into the room when He raised the little 12-year-old girl from the dead. (Luke 8:51) He again chose only them out of everyone else to witness Him transform on the mount, and to see Moses and Elijah, and to hear the very voice of God Himself. (Matthew 17) These three received a greater revelation and understanding than the rest of the 12. They also were able to witness greater miracles than anyone else. – Why? What did these three do that set them apart to receive such a great reward? – Starting with James and John, we see how they wanted to call fire from Heaven to consume a town in Samaria that had just rejected Jesus. (Luke 9:54) – Too much of a good thing becomes a bad thing; this is true. However, underneath the overkill, what was their heart? It was to defend their master and to stand for Jesus. Then we see Peter: he cuts off the ear of one of the soldiers who came to take Jesus in the Garden (Matthew 26:51; John 18:26) He went too far, but his heart was to defend Jesus. Now this is just one of many differences that can be seen between these three and the rest of the 12. For times sake, I’m only pointing out this one. So what can we learn from it? A key difference between this level and the lower ones is a defensive heart for Jesus. Put it this way: when you hear someone say something that’s not true about Jesus, are you quick to defend? Or do you say nothing and let the lie continue?

Finally, the Fifth and closest level to Jesus (and my personal favorite) can be seen in The One – John, the one “whom Jesus loved.” (John 13:23) John (the apostle and one of The Three) was closer to Jesus’s heart than anyone else. At the last supper, we see how John rested. Read: John 13: 21-29 He rested with his head on the chest of Jesus. Now when you rest your head on someone’s chest, you hear their heart beat. I’m sure you’ve experienced this – the heartbeat is so loud that it practically drowns out every other noise. And this is where John rested. All the other 12 were in Jesus’s presence too (they were all in the same room), but only John rested on His chest. He wasn’t satisfied with just being in the room. He wanted to be as close to Jesus’s heart as he could. He wanted to hear His heart beat, and let every other sound in the world fade away. This is how John loves Jesus. And because John loved the most, he received the most.

At the last supper, when Jesus tells everyone that His betrayer is one of them, Peter asks John to ask Jesus who it is. Peter, who, “on this rock I will build My church,” dared not even ask. He knew though, that whatever John asks Jesus, Jesus will give it to him. This is a reward of such a close relationship; of such surrender and love for God. Because John’s heart was so close to Jesus, he rested in the sound of His heart. So John asked, and Jesus told him. John is also the one that wrote the book of Revelation. He is the one that was chosen to witness how God is going to unfold the end times, in perfect detail. John was also given understanding of the things that he saw. He received more revelation and understanding, and witnessed the greatest miracles and mysteries than anyone else - above the multitude, the 70, the 12, and the 3.

Why? – Because he gave more. He surrendered more. He loved more.

You can be the multitude, the 70, the 12, the 3, or the 1. It’s entirely up to you. God wants each and everyone one of us to be the 1. But it requires on our part the greatest level of surrender: everything.