Most of us have heard a sermon, or read on our own, James chapter 4, verse 8, which says "Draw near to God, and He will raw near to you." Up until tonight, however, I had not fully grasped the meaning behind this verse, and the entire chapter 4 of James, which is basically instructions on how to draw near to God. Verse 4 hit me right where I was tonight when it said that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God. The world is full of humanly pleasure, and this pleasure keeps us from God. I realize now that I have been trying for o long to draw near to God, to feel Him in all aspects of my life. In the meantime, however, I have been becoming friends with the world. I find pleasure and joy in things of this earth much more often than I do with God and His word. I wasn't even planning on digging through the Scriptures tonight to find out how to draw near to God, but after reading this chapter, I am amazed at the simplicity God wrote in to show us how to truly understand Him. According to James, there are 5 ways in which we draw near to God: 1.) humble yourselves before God, 2.) resist the devil, 3.) wash your hands and purify your hearts, 4.) let there be sorrow and deep grief for your sins, 5.) humble yourselves before God and He will exalt you. Funny how humbling ourselves before God is mentioned twice. I've never actually thought about what it means, and requires of us to be humble before God. He wants us to present ourselves as mere mortals, thankful and amazed at His masterpieces and power. I think of humility as presenting myself just the way that He made me, and showing God my sinful nature and weaknesses so He can help me move past them and be forgiven. How can I expect to draw near to Him if I have friendship with the world? This world is not our home, our home is in heaven with Jesus, and we were only placed on this earth to share His glory with all mankind. This act also requires complete humility; we cannot do it for our glory, but for Christ. I need to end my friendships with the world. I need to stop seeking approval and forgiveness from mere humans and turn to the Master, the Creator. His opinion of me is all that should matter, and His friendship should trump all others. I thanks God for revealing this to me tonight, and for giving me this week of reflection and solitude up here in Idyllwild to dig deeper and find more about my Creator. Because the more I know about Him, the deeper our friendship can become.
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