If we are away from God or don’t know God, we might think that our bad habits would keep us from drawing close or approaching Him. Scripture tells us that if we draw close to God, He will draw close to us. But sometimes we do feel that we cannot draw close to God because of our habits and desires, because they would not be pleasing to Him.
With our human mind, it is hard to imagine the height and the depth of the universe, which is often beyond our imagination. But when it come to the love of God, understanding the extent of the universe would not even be a beginning of understanding how much God loves us. It is impossible to really grasp how much He loves us.
God instructs us regarding some of the things we do that we don’t feel really good about. Why does He point these things out in Scripture? It is not that He does not want us to have a good time. And sometimes we feel as if these things are just that – a good time. He warns us because the presence of sin cannot be in God’s presence. God and sin cannot be at the same place at the same time, and He wants you to be close to Him. So He instructs you not to do the things that will keep you away from Him. He may put it in your conscience, or you may not feel quite right about doing something.
Although He wants to remove the things that are not pleasing to Him from your life, He wants you to know that you can approach Him even with some of the habits that you believe are displeasing to God. You can approach Him through Jesus Christ. He will help you to get past, get over, or get rid of some of the things that are hindering your relationship with God. This is the greatest desire of God’s heart – for you to draw close to Him and for Him to be close to you. Fellowship with you is His greatest desire.
Since He cannot fellowship with sin, God makes you aware of what will keep you from a close relationship with Him. When I think of what God has done for us, I am reminded of the old saying “This is going to hurt me more than it will hurt you.” He wants so much to be close to you that He gave up His only Son to be a sacrifice for our sins. When we come to the end of ourselves and realize that we, like all humans, are sinners who need a savior, we can take advantage of the offer God has given us. We can trust what God has promised in His word. We can repent of our sins and ask Jesus to be our Savior, so that we can have fellowship with God for eternity.
Romans 10:13 "For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." (NIV) And again in Acts 2:21 "And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." (NIV)
Romans 10: 9-11 "if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10For with your heart you believe and are justified, and with your mouth you confess and are saved.
11It is just as the Scripture says: “Anyone who believes in Him will never be put to shame.” 12For there is no difference between Jew and Greek: The same Lord is Lord of all, and gives richly to all who call on Him, 13for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
There is a famous song whose lyrics reflect the fact that you can come to Jesus just as you are. It is called "Just as I am." The original lyrics were written by Charlotte Elliot in 1835. You can listen to the version sung by Allen Jackson by clicking on the link below. May God bless you.
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