Chosen Closeness

The very first lie humanity ever believed was this: God is withholding & distant. That’s the lie the serpent whispers to Eve. God is holding something back from you. He hasn’t changed his sales pitch and we’re still buying it. But that’s not the truth about God. It’s never been the truth about God.

Even after disobedience, in the midst of their shame, God comes walking through the cool of the garden, just like every other day, to come close to those who ran and hid. God has always been initiating and pursuing closeness with us. This relentless pursuit peaks in God Himself stepping down into our world to meet us, to be us, and to sacrifice Himself in order to be close to us. And what does scripture say about how God felt about this? He was PLEASED to have all His fullness dwell in Christ and bring us close (Col 1:19). The Greek for pleased means “chose gladly.” God chose gladly to initiate relationship with us. And then He chose gladly to come into our hearts and be united with us and make us His kids (1 Cor 6:17; Gal 4:6). He continues to choose gladly, every day, to remain fully present, fully united, fully engaged, and completely close.

He doesn’t start the closeness and then it’s up to you to maintain it. Closeness with God doesn’t work that way. Choose gladly to enjoy what you’ve already got.

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