MERRY WEDNESDAY BY PARRIS BAILEY
“Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.”
Religion gets in the way every time when we try to approach Christ. Somehow we come up with other ways to have Christ be pleased with us. It’s just in us to “serve Him” by “giving up things” or living by our own set of special rules. I pray today you find yourself drawing near to the lover of your soul. Piper said “Drawing near is not moving from one place to another. It is a directing of the heart into the presence of God who is as distant as the holy of holies in heaven, and yet as near as the door of faith. He is commanding us to come.”
Christ comes to us in so many ways. He is not something on your checklist or your magic genie that pops out randomly because you did some spiritual thing. I find myself far too easily pleased or bored when it comes to drawing near to Christ. Mcclaren said, “There is no limit to growth. It is like a spiral which goes up and up and up, and in every convolution ‘draws nearer to the centre, but never reaches it. Our hearts and spirits are wonderfully elastic. They can take in a great deal more of God than we think they can, or than they ever have taken in. We can receive just as much of that infinite Life into our finite spirits as we will. Let us each strive to get more and more of Jesus Christ in us, that we may know Him, and the ‘power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings,’ more fully, more deeply, and may keep it more constantly. Oh, brethren! if we are not ascending the ladder that reaches to heaven, which is Christ Himself, we are descending; and if we are not growing we are dwindling; and if we cannot say that we are being sanctified, we are being made more and more common and profane.”
And Andrew Murray wrote; ” God really means me to enter and dwell, and spend my whole life, in the conscious enjoyment of His immediate presence. Let no thought of thy weakness and unfaithfulness hold thee back. Begin to look at God, who has set the door open and calls thee in; at the blood that has prevailed over sin and death, and given thee a boldness that nothing can hinder; at Christ the almighty and most loving High Priest, who is to bring thee in and keep thee in; and believe: Yes, such a life is meant for me; it is possible; it is my duty.; God calls me to it; and say then, whether thy heart would not desire and long to enter into this blessed rest, the home of God’s love.”
So let’s just do it!