Many seem to spend a lot of time looking for ways to feel closer to the Lord as they worship and serve Him. They try everything from finding just the right “setting” or in generating the right visualization.
The first thing one needs to realize that there is a vast difference between feeling close and being close. Real closeness does not consist of a close physical presence either real or imagined. Real closeness to our Lord is not determined by subjective feeling, but by objective evidence in the gospel message. Romans 10:6-8 says, “But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:) Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.) But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach.”
Rather than using our hearts to try to devise ways that we can feel a closer physical presence with Jesus, get near to Him by having the word that the apostles preached in your mouth and your heart. After that, a correct feeling of closeness will naturally follow. He will be as close to us as the word is close to us in our hearts. All that we can know with certainty about Jesus and His will is revealed in that “word of faith, which we preach.”
Adapted from Edward O. Bragwell, Sr.
