Being close to someone we love is a wonderful feeling. Being close to someone who loves us is also wonderful. What feeling then describes being close to the Someone who broke down the wall of partition that stood between us and God? Who gave His life so that we might live?
In the book of Ephesians, Paul speaks of the uniting of Jews and Gentiles into the church, the body of Christ. He reminds the non-Jewish Christians, i.e. the Gentiles, of their original state: "In time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others" (2:2-3, KJV). He continues, "Remember that at one time you were Gentiles (heathens) in the flesh, called Uncircumcision by those who called themselves Circumcision, [itself a mere mark] in the flesh made by human hands. [Remember] that you were at that time separated (living apart) from Christ [excluded from all part in Him], utterly estranged and outlawed from the rights of Israel as a nation, and strangers with no share in the sacred compacts of the [Messianic] promise [with no knowledge of or right in God's agreements, His covenants]. And you had no hope (no promise); you were in the world without God" (vv. 11-12, The Amplified).
With no hope and without God? Perish the thought! Definitely not the position to be in. The worst thing about it is that there was absolutely nothing that any Gentile, including us, could do about our sorry condition. But thanks be to God the story did not stop there for the Apostle affirms, "But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were [so] far away, through (by, in) the blood of Christ have been brought near. . . . Therefore you are no longer outsiders (exiles, migrants, and aliens, excluded from the rights of citizens), but you now share citizenship with the saints (God's own people, consecrated and set apart for Himself); and you belong to God's [own] household" (v.14, 19). In other words, we are no longer on the outside looking in; we have been grafted into the family with full access, rights and privileges. Our relationship with God can now be one of intimacy, one of closeness. As the hen gathers her chickens under her wings, so our Heavenly Father draws us close to Himself. And there are no words to describe that feeling.
How close are you to the Father?
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