A relationship with God takes work.
Coming to Him doesn’t.
Accepting Him into our lives is easy. We just have to believe. Make a decision. He did all the hard work.
But getting to know God, following Him in our everyday lives, becoming more and more like Him?
That is much more difficult.
That takes work.
And we don’t like work.
We want to feel His presence. Hear His voice. Know the direction He is leading us in. And become more like Him.
But we’re too busy to read our Bible.
Or pray.
Or sit and listen to Him speak.
We don’t have time to meditate on His word. Or share our faith. Or look inward and change our attitudes and actions.
We don’t want to study Scripture. Or change our TV watching habits. Or cut off the things in our lives that cause us to sin.
We want to know God deeper.
We just don’t like the work that comes with it.
“And so Moses finished the work. Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle” (Exodus 40:33b-34).
It wasn’t until Moses and the Israelites finished building the tabernacle that God’s presence dwelt among them.
They had to craft every utensil. Sculpt every lamp stand, basin, and the ark of the testimony cover. Manufacture every clasp, spin every inch of thread and design every bit of art. They had to build the supports, fashion a wash basin and sew together the clothes for the priests.
It was hard work.
But when they finished, they encountered God in a new and fresh way.
A deeper relationship with Christ takes work, but the reward is far better than the cost.
It requires reordering our priorities, our schedules, our finances.
It demands changing our mindsets and actions.
It means spending more than five minutes a day with Him.
It requires pushing past our doubts, fears and distractions to connect with this Being we cannot see.
But when we do the work, when we set ourselves to the task of getting to know this God, something powerful happens.
His presence comes.
We encounter Him in a deeper way.
And are able to hear Him more clearly.
Hearing God, feeling His presence, growing closer to Him takes work. Hard work.
But it’s work that comes with a reward. Him.
How do you work to grow closer to God?
