How Can I Grow Closer to God?
LYSA TERKEURST
“Then he
said to them all: ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves
and take up their cross daily and follow me.’” Luke 9:23 (NIV)
I
would love to tell you that I have a long and impressive list of goals
for 2018. But I'm not really into writing out my goals for the new year.
Honestly, I just want to follow hard after the Lord every day and let
Him renew me and shape me into the woman I need to be this year.
I want to grow ever closer to God — pressing into Him so He makes the deepest impression on me.
So that's my goal. Maybe it’s one of your goals too. Growing closer to God.
But how do we do that? How can we position ourselves to grow closer to God this year?
In
Luke 9:23b, Jesus tells His disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple
must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.”
His words seem surprising at first. The disciples had already given up everything to follow Jesus. Or so it seemed …
Family. Friends. Jobs. The comforts of home.
Yet,
in our key verse today, we find Jesus telling them the cost is going to
be even higher than they had originally anticipated. The disciples
aren’t being asked to lay down some things. They are going to need to
lay down everything. Their plans. Their agendas. Maybe even their own
lives.
And while it may sound like a lot to ask, because of their
willingness to continue following hard after Jesus they will get to
experience a level of closeness with Him unlike anyone else.
Closeness when they take communion with Him before He is crucified. (Luke 22:12-20)
Closeness when He bends low to wash their feet. (John 13:1-17)
Closeness when He eats with them after His resurrection. (Luke 24:36-43)
Closeness when they are among the first to receive the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. (Acts 2:1-4)
So
not only did they have the promise of eternity with Him in heaven, they
also had the privilege of experiencing unparalleled intimacy with Him
on earth.
Could they have received any sweeter gift?
This
is what my heart hungers for when it comes to the Lord. I want
connection. I want communion. I want closeness. Not only in a distant
heavenly future but right here. Right now.
That’s why I’m so
thankful Jesus’ invitation to the disciples in Luke 9:23 is for us, too.
We are also invited close. Which means we are also called to deny
ourselves, take up our cross and follow Him.
I realize “taking up
our cross” may sound strange or vague at first, but for me it’s meant
breaking old habits to create space in my heart for new growth. It’s
meant moving beyond a plastic Christian checklist … Go to church. Read
the Bible. Don’t cuss. Be nice. Pray. Give to the poor … and letting God
mess with any and every area of my life.
It has meant things
like offering Him my willingness to step away from TV for a season,
fixing my eyes on Him first in the morning, instead of my phone and
allowing Him to call me to a new level of discipline in my eating
habits. Things I have said “yes” to because I long for an ever-closer
walk with Him.
I don’t know exactly what following wholeheartedly
after God will look like for you. But I do know that if we want to grow
closer to God this year, we’ll have to distance ourselves from whatever
is distracting us. We’ll have to lay aside whatever we are prone to
delight in more than Him.
Let’s ask God which distraction we need
to distance ourselves from in order to grow closer to Him, and then
let’s do the hard and holy work of denying ourselves. Because a deeper
level of intimacy with Him will always be worth the cost.
Lord,
show me what stands in the way of intimacy with You, and give me the
strength to lay it down — for a season or maybe even forever. I long to
be closer to You. No matter the cost. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.