Stay Close To Me

My five-year old had an ear infection one day last week, so I had my little side-kick tagging along with me while running my never-ending errands.  We got out of the truck and as she got about two feet ahead of me, I reached out, pulled her back and said, "Stay close to me."  As I held her against my body, protecting her with my presence, I thought about how God does the same thing with us.  Even two feet away from me could expose her to getting hit by a distracted driver in the parking lot, but having her right by my side means that I could at least keep my body between her and any potential harm.

Her proximity to me doesn't determine whether or not she is my daughter, neither does it determine the degree of my love for her.  She is my daughter all the time, no matter where I am or where she is.  My love for her is the same, whether she is in my arms or whether she is at school.  But her proximity to me does determine my ability to have a tangible influence upon her and her circumstances.  During this present darkness and time of increasing confusion and deceit, we need to fully grasp the implications of what this should look like in our spiritual lives.  Scripture says, "He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High Will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, 'My refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I trust!' For He will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers, and under His wings you will find refuge; His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.'" (Psalm 91:1-4).

God says to us, "Stay close to Me".  He says this because our proximity to His truth is the only way a person can be rest-assured that they are not being deceived.  He is the truth, and His truth is the way, because it is His truth that gives us life (John 14:6; John 6:63).  Mysticism, sexual immorality and idolatry have invaded the church and most people are too asleep or scripturally ignorant to see it.  God has given us His word in scripture to ensure that we have a way to see through the devil's lies, but we have become so bold in our ambivalence toward truth that we now sit at the table with the devil and critique God's word over coffee.   For the most part, the church today is drowning in a sea of ambivalence, lulled to sleep by the rocking waves of apathy.  So many of us are like my 5-year-old daughter, wandering out alone into the parking lot, led by our own ideas and desires, oblivious to oncoming traffic that could harm us.

The farther away from God's word we drift, the harder it is to receive the life-giving sustenance that comes from its truth.  Without the life-giving sustenance of God's truth, we simply practice a dead and empty religion fed by emotional experience.  Over and over again, it seems we find ourselves back in the Garden, giving audience to the enemy of our soul.  If you are compromising God's word in any area of your life, you are exposing yourself to deceit.  And the sole purpose of deceit is to lead us to destruction.

"The coming of the lawless one will be accompanied by the working of Satan, with every kind of power, sign, and false wonder.  He will use every kind of evil deception to fool those on their way to destruction, because they refuse to love and accept the truth that would save them. For this reason, God will send them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie, in order that judgment will come upon all who have disbelieved the truth and delighted in wickedness." (2 Thess 2:9-12)

"..hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it was taught, so that by sound teaching he will be able to encourage others and refute those who contradict this message. For many are rebellious and full of empty talk and deception" (Titus 1:9,10)

"Do everything without complaining or arguing, that you may be blameless and pure, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, as you hold firmly to the word of life." (Philippians 2:14-16).