Encouragement Checkup, Part One: Draw Near

 

Hey, Cobblestone,

     It’s been said that reinforcement is the key to learning. Hear a thing once, and you’ll retain some of it; hear it again, and you’ll retain more, and so on. To that end, I’m feeling the liberty to use this forum to lean further into a concept we talked about in church a couple weeks ago: encouragement. We looked at a certain chunk of Bible from Hebrews 10. By way of reinforcement, here it is again:

    ¹⁹ Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰ by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, ²¹ and since we have a great priest over the house of God, ²² let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. ²³ Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. ²⁴ And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, ²⁵ not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching (Hebrews 10:19-25).

     For the sake of our frazzled minds, we chose to restate the biblical instruction in the simplest of terms:

1.      Draw near.

2.      Hold fast.

3.      Encourage one another.

     Since nothing in Scripture is random, let’s assume God meant the first thing to be the first thing. Today’s letter, then, will be all about drawing near to God. The next letter will be on the “Hold fast” theme. And by the time the third letter of this nano-series comes out, I’m praying the Father has made all of us – you-and-me-and-all-of-us – ready to be top-notch encouragers!

    I got to wondering: Is there anyplace in Scripture where “draw near to God” is accompanied by a promise? A flood of examples ensued. Let’s pick one for now and roll with it:

    ⁶ But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” ⁷ Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ⁸ Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you (James 4:6-8a).

     There are three solid promises in those 2.5 verses, all associated with drawing near to God. Are you ready to own them? Confession: I’m not ready to own them, honestly, not in this moment – but I hope to be ready very soon. Maybe you’re in the same kind of spot, so let’s see if we can identify a starting place, and begin to cooperate with the Lord in his promises.

     Seems to me, it starts with humility. But he gives more grace. Why am I clinging to the illusion of self-sufficiency, when the Father gives more grace? Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Why do I fuel my strivings with pridefulness, when the Almighty stands in opposition? Submit yourselves therefore to God. Why did I ever think there was any other workable choice? He gives more grace. Gives it for the asking. Gives however much it takes, and then some, which is the very essence of grace. So goes the first promise: he gives more grace.

     The second promise: Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. We resist. He flees. I sense a resistance to this one. With a long history of the devil eating our lunches with a side of impunity, I get it. Let’s try again: Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. We resist. He flees. We don’t have to lunge at the devil; we don’t have to jump-scare the devil; we don’t have to outsmart the devil – simply resist. The Father stands over his children and declares, “Mine.” The devil ain’t messing with that. He is outclassed, outgunned, and he knows it better than we do.

     Third and best: Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. In my line of work, I’ve heard a lot of salvation stories, stories of wandering far from God, stories of resisting his invitations for long periods of time. All of those stories (including mine), though unique in the details, have a common pivot point: “When I turned around, the Father was right there.” At the very end of Paul’s last letter to the Corinthians, there is a benediction, or “good word”: The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all (2Corinthians 13:14). Grace. Love. Fellowship. Drawing near to God is its own reward. He is: rock, fortress, deliverer; our God, in whom we may certainly trust.

     First thing first. A snowball in a pizza oven stands a better chance than we do – if we want to be authentic encouragers – unless we first draw near to the creator of all things, the sustainer of all things, the lover of our souls.

     Turn around.

     He’s right there.

 Grace and Peace (in turning),

John