How to Have a Closer Relationship With Jesus Christ

How to Have a Closer Relationship with Jesus Christ
By David Westfall

I was once told by someone that she is God’s blind spot. That she no longer believes in him because he hates her, because he has become “apathetic like the rest of us”. She said she didn’t believe he was there, and that she was content that after death, there would be nothing.

After the conversation, I felt distraught. What could drive someone, especially someone who until then I had known to be a faithful Catholic, so far away from God? Frequent readers of my work will know of this discussion, but there I only provided commentary on the doctrinal issues she raised. Now I wish to do something for her personally, but also for anyone who has felt their relationship with Jesus Christ weakened recently, or not there at all. This desire is also driven by some serious problems I have been forced to work against in recent months, and a hope that through teaching this, I might be able to mend any fraying chords that had previously bonded me—indeed, all of us—to God.

Tell Jesus that You Love Him
I can promise anyone that in all their laboring, in their searching for God, nothing will come easily unless they specifically tell God that they love him, that they strongly desire to be his servant on earth. Just as a man cannot marry a woman without expressing his love for her, so must all men and women come to know Jesus by telling him that they love him.

This is fairly simple, but one should at least partially understand what he is getting into when he does this. The Christian life truly begins at that statement of faith—we may have been raised Christian until then, but the ultimate change that Christians undergo, into new beings, starts here. For many this event may be confirmation, when we are required to announce our continuing fidelity to the vows our parents took at baptism. Also for the older converts, it may even begin at baptism. Or perhaps, it comes with a simple statement, at a time when one feels himself exhausted by his realized sin (this was the case for me). The point is that no transformation will take place until this announcement.

Saying “I love you, Jesus—take me,” is only the beginning. Almost immediately we feel a change, a sense that we are now part of something much larger than ourselves, and that our work in life is now ordained by a much higher authority than our own individual powers. God is always present, arms open; ready to embrace us—it is we that separate ourselves from him. Therefore by this statement, we enter into that rapturous embrace, in which we fully surrender ourselves to him and allow him to conform our desires, hopes, and dreams to his own.

This sense of having been given something extraordinary must be handled very carefully. It may quickly manifest itself into pride if we are not prudent. A Christian must never believe that he is now somehow above others, because we humans are all in the same dire situation, being sinners (Christian or non-Christian). A Christian is merely choosing to grasp the Father’s helping hand—Jesus—and be pulled back to Him, something that anyone ought to be doing in the first place.

Finally, Christians can never prize this relationship as something for a kind of spiritual elite. We are not given special knowledge of God—we merely choose to accept what is readily presented to us. This idea that we possess the special knowledge of God key to salvation, is not Christian. It is Gnostic. Knowledge does not save us—Jesus Christ, who is ready and waiting for everyone, does.

But none of this begins until we announce our faith. There are no anonymous Christians—people who merely live their lives in a way that would indicate faith in Christ. There are only Christians and non-Christians. And they are distinguished by their creeds…their statements of faith. We must not only believe, but also profess.

Believe in Satan
This is a surprisingly difficult thing to do today. Something that I have learned about Americans, and about the western world in general, is that a profound mistrust of any belief in the supernatural exists among most men and women. What even many Christians do not appear to grasp is that when one grows so skeptical of Satan on the grounds of his metaphysical existence, God falls under the same scrutiny as well. The same skepticism towards God will be an immediate consequence.

I would like to quote a passage from The Pilgrim’s Progress, by John Bunyan. Here the main character, Christian, is wandering through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, and has grown so miserable in his peril and besetment by evil on all sides, that he stands now on the brink of destruction. The passage reads:

I took notice that now poor Christian was so confounded that he did not know his own voice, and thus I perceived it: just when he was come over against the mouth of the burning pit, one of the wicked ones got up behind him, and stepped up softly to him, and whisperingly suggested many grievous blasphemies to him, which he verily thought had proceeded from his own mind. This put Christian more to it than anything that he met with before, even to think that he should now blaspheme him that he loved so much before; yet, could he have helped it, he would not have done it, but he had not the discretion neither to stop his ears nor to know from whence those blasphemies came.

Human sin does not arise solely from a natural human rebelliousness toward God. That rebelliousness is inseparable from two other factors: the pliability of the human heart, and the omnipresent deceit of Satan. Sin is very much defined as a spiritual lethargy possessed by every human being, young or old, healthy or unhealthy, and mentally sound or unsound. This state of being works in tandem with continual satanic influence to inhibit anyone from doing acts of good and selflessness for God, building in them an affinity for wrongdoing. The basic human intention in its walk with God is to be a faithful servant to him, but it is the deceiver that destroys this intent.

When God created human beings, he gave to us an intellect, and willpower, and the ability to “behold him in the tangle of [our] mind” (The Man for All Seasons). He equipped us with the ability to perceive him and to strongly desire his love and closeness. He came and was present with human beings, speaking with them directly, in the beginning when the earth was new. And because of this, we loved and worshiped him, having no desire to do otherwise, for if we did we would surely die, as He told us. Here was the human intellect, unmuddied waters with crystal clear intent, before being introduced to the grit and murk of a deceiver. Humanity does not exist in its current state of sinfulness purely because it has been given the free will necessary to disobey God. The true catalyst to our spiritual state was Satan, acting on the pliable nature of human will. This also is reflected in The Pilgrim’s Progress. The character (actually named Pliable) merrily joins up with Christian on his journey to the Celestial City, but at the first instance of hardship, he falters and returns to his home, the city of Destruction. While humanity possesses the god-given conscience necessary to want to seek out God and God’s will for us, humanity also possesses an ear inclined to accept nearly anything whispered into it.

Therefore believe not only in God, but also in God’s enemies, the demons and “wicked ones”, along with their prince. Recognize their presence and their fault in deceiving you, and pray for God’s help and providence. Realize that God is your master, and that Satan is perpetually attempting to tear you away from him. This is the first defense.

Go To Church
According to many surveys, some 50% of American Christians go to church three times every month. More distressing, however, is that only 30% go every Sunday.

I have discussed this with many people, especially people who fit into the latter category, and have found a similar logic behind what all have said. I think I just am better off alone with God. This is a quite dangerous view, as it can quickly develop into an elitist faith where one views himself as being higher or lower than some others in his ‘spiritual walk’ (‘spiritual’ is also becoming a dangerous and vague term to use).

The importance of continual worship in a group of Christians is simply not known widely enough. Jesus did not come for us to encounter him and learn about him strictly as individuals. This was also done through his spiritual (here I use it correctly) body after his death—the church. In addition to a personal walk with Jesus, we grow especially in our faith through contact with his other agents in the world. We develop a sense of community and brotherhood with fellow worshipers, and realize that as his spiritual body, we are equipped to go forth as disciples in the world together, proclaiming his gospel.

When one encounters Jesus and chooses not to enrich this relationship with communal interaction with other Christians, it becomes difficult to do a number of things.

First among these, which I have already mentioned, is ability to evangelize. As anyone who has read the New Testament will know, Christ calls us not only to develop a personal belief and reliance on him for our own salvation, he commands—or commissions—us to go forth into the wider world and do his will. We must at some point leave our personal lives to a lesser role, and assist others in joining the great citizenship of Jesus’ kingdom of believers on earth. He demands this of us.

Also, interpretation of the bible can become quite confusing. This we will also discuss later. But for now, I will say that without a pupil relationship to a priest or leader of the church, one would be very unlikely to interpret some portions of the scripture correctly. Some others (such as the book of Revelation) will be nearly incomprehensible at times. Participation in church life will assist one’s ability to understand God’s word.

Read the Bible
Like the belief in Satan, this is something that has gone very much out of style in the modern world. In our infinite and depthless wellspring of cultural wisdom, we regard reading the works of old with an almost equally skeptical eye. These are, after all, writings that have not been introduced to the ‘age of reason’, where humanity finally realized its boundless potential to rise in moral understanding above the archaic thoughts of its primitive ancestors.

In case you were wondering, I am being sarcastic.

The bible is here for anyone, easily accessible, and usually easy to understand. The teachings in it and the dilemmas brought forth by it are as applicable today as they were thousands of years ago, though many disagree with this. A thorough, regular, sustained reading of the bible is accompanied with an acute sharpening of the intellect, because God’s word in the bible equips any man with the tools needed to approach anything.

From the ritual purity laws and teachings of the Old Testament, as well as through its histories and stories, we learn of how God worked with his own chosen people before the coming of the Messiah. And among other things we can see how truly amazing it was that God then chose to include the Gentiles in his magnificent plan for salvation.

From the moral laws of the Old Testament, we see the immutable basic facts of creation. We see how God planned humanity to live in a certain way beyond its ritual sacrifice and ceremony for him. It is demonstrated to us clearly that God intends all to live subjected to his explicit law of proper human conduct, a lifestyle that will orient anyone inextricably toward himself.

From the Psalms, we are exposed to beauteous works of praise toward God that, in praising him, instruct us as to various aspects of his nature. We learn of his mercy, or his might, his sovereignty, wrath, love, and judgment. The psalms provide us with an enriching supplement to our personal worship of God, whereby we may learn how one may honor him and praise him in words and acts.

From the prophetic writings, we learn of the central figure to Christianity—the Messiah, or Jesus. Throughout the writings of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and others, we see continual reference to acts later done by Jesus, solidifying his authority as the promised Immanuel and savior of the human race.

From parables we learn metaphorical ways in which God works in relation to all of us. Or how we ought to work in relation to God. And these—being metaphors—easily can be fitted into a modern context; not of course by changing the teaching, but by recognizing the metaphor.

From the beatitudes, we learn the specific peoples with which God will associate himself in a spiritual relationship. And then we may strive to be these people, or if we are already, we may be comforted that God cares for us in our circumstance.

From the Gospels as a whole, we are given the indescribably miraculous and joyous truth of salvation from human sinfulness, carried out by Jesus Christ who is God. These Gospels, literally the ‘good news’, bring to us the knowledge that God loved the world enough to be made flesh, to die the most agonizing death ever possible, to act as propitiation to the father so that all our manifold sins would be funneled into Jesus and not onto us.

From the Acts of the Apostles, we see how the witnesses to the life, death, and resurrection of Christ are called to go out and bring the truth to the unreached. This extends to Christian witnesses living today. Not only, we learn, does God save us by providing forgiveness when we accept Christ. He then gives all men the same opportunity to be confronted with his gospel truth and accept it, through the evangelistic work of his apostles.

From the Epistles, we see the forming of the earliest Christian Church (continued from the record of Acts), when Paul and other disciples are called by God to counsel the various churches throughout the world in their doctrine and conduct. In doing this we receive exposition and exegesis on the truth of the Gospel, though the fourfold gospel is not used specifically.

And finally, from the book of Revelation, we are given prophesy and metaphoric description of the end of days, where all men will be judged directly before God. This stresses to us the importance of a vigilant and aware mindset, so that we might always be in a state of readiness and preparedness for the second coming of Christ.

These are but short descriptions of the very basic, ‘bare bones’ purposes of God’s written message. To learn from them, and more importantly to ultimately grow closer to Christ, one must do as I have said—read the scriptures regularly, consistently, with ample time to dwell on their meanings so that the ultimate messages and truths may be extrapolated in their entirety.

Read Outside the Bible
Though many are reluctant to trust it, there are nearly 2 millennia of exposition and exegesis on biblical doctrine, best found in the first to third century writings of church fathers like Irenaeus. Also it is worthwhile to read later writings by Saint Augustine among others. The writings of most of these were originally intended to combat heresies that arose within the early church (Gnosticism, Aryanism, Marcionism, etc.). However, they now also serve us by providing clear explanation of the true biblical kerygma, the explanations being necessary to fight those heresies.

Something one learns immediately from reading works like The Confessions, or Against Heresies, is that these were not archaic and inferior Christians. In fact, they were better-versed in Christian theology and church dogmatics than most of us are today.

One final use that these writings may serve is to keep Christians aware and protected against new heresies arising in the church. To illustrate an example, the postmodern world is encountering another revival of Gnosticism, clearly present in its emphasis of a vague sort of ‘spirituality’ that possesses no clear definition, that does not require any conformity (for more on this, I recommend In the Face of God, by Michael Horton, as well as the writings of J.I. Packer).

You will have noticed my quoting of The Pilgrim’s Progress, by John Bunyan. Furthermore, you will see it again soon. This is but one example of the wealth of literature regarding Christianity available to Christians anywhere. There have been innumerable writers throughout history, other than the church fathers, who have preached timeless lessons from the Gospel; Bunyan is but one. It is profitable to look for these—the older, the better (the older it is, the more true to the Apostolic faith it will generally be; I will leave you to ponder as to why).

Therefore read the church fathers, and think often about their teaching. This is mere Christianity, the faith in its basic essentials. Here we may find an immovable base of teaching with which to strengthen Christians everywhere.

Talk About the Bible
When you begin the aforementioned task of reading your bible often, regularly, and thoughtfully, I recommend finding a group of people with which to discuss the scriptures. For me this takes the form of a number of Christian youth groups, in whose bible studies I participate.

Adults may find it desirable to actually lead such a group once they feel comfortable with the texts—I have heard it said, and believe it to be the case, that we teach best what we need to learn the most. However, the vast majority of Christian churches will have some kind of regular study group—probably for adults and a separate one for children—in which they approach different areas of the Bible.

This is something less emphasized in American Christianity. Now more people tend to focus on their relationship with Christ in an individualistic sense. The benefits of a communal focus with Jesus is, as I have mentioned previously, not well known.

When one accepts the bible’s teachings and begins to read, he will soon come upon various confusing points in the scripture where simple common sense and careful reasoning will bring forth a myriad of possibilities for interpretation. This is because the human mind, having not encountered any other claims of the sort that one finds in the bible, will not have any criteria or tool for deciphering the texts’ meaning. This can only be instructed through a group of believers with a leader. It is called hermeneutics and exegesis. For our purposes, I will refer to them as ‘interpretation’ and ‘explanation’.

This means that a Christian seeking to understand the bible will need to hear it from a learned point of view. This is perhaps one of the greater apprehensions to accepting instruction in biblical interpretation. American Christianity is, after all, largely a faith bereft of any major sense of authority structure in churches (by ‘major’ I mean on the same level as the Catholic authority of the Pope). This is an unfortunate result of Martin Luther’s inability to reform the church and thus retain that authoritative structure, but I digress. The point is that most Americans—and most American Christians—are individualistic in their view of how one approaches the scriptures, if they view the scriptures as an authority at all. One must tear himself away from the notion that authoritative instruction is risky or unimportant, and listen to the collected wisdom teachings of thousands of years of Christian thought, handed down since before the formation of the canon. One must come to realize that they are certainly not going to come up with any startlingly new concept of Biblical truth if they go about it on their own.

Think About the Bible
Also in The Pilgrim’s Progress is a character named Talkative, whom Christian and his friend Faithful meet in the pilgrimage to the Celestial City. As Faithful enters into a long discourse with Talkative, Christian is strangely silent. He continues walking away from them, to the side of the road. While this is happening, Faithful and Talkative converse about many “profitable things” (as they say), and in doing so Faithful begins to regard the other as an equally strong pilgrim. His speech indicates a broad knowledge of biblical truth.

Eventually he realizes that Christian is not speaking, and that he is not even a part of their conversation. He steps over to Christian and talks with him.

Now did Faithful begin to wonder, and stepping to Christian (for he walked all this while by himself), he said to him (but softly), “What a brave companion have we got! Surely this man will make a very excellent pilgrim.”
At this Christian modestly smiled and said, “This man with whom you are so taken will beguile with this tongue of his twenty of them that know him not.”

Later as Christian explains to Faithful that the man has no real religious beliefs, and would never act or live his life in accordance with Christian virtue, Faithful is upset:

“Say you so! Then I am in this man greatly deceived.”
“Deceived? You may be sure of it. Remember the proverb, ‘They say and do not’; ‘but the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power.’ [Matthew 23:3; I Corinthians 4:20] He talketh of prayer, of repentance, of faith, and of the new birth; but he knows but only to talk of them.”

Christians cannot be this way. It is true that we must read the bible, and talk about the bible. But this talk must become much more than words that we use to make happy conversation with others. In addition we must actually conform our lifestyles to accommodate the biblical truths in our hearts. As Bunyan’s Christian later says, “Talking is not sufficient to prove that fruit is indeed in the heart and life, and let us assure ourselves that at the day of doom, men shall be judged according to their fruits.”

At the end of days when all men must stand before their creator and be judged, they will not be allowed into the kingdom of heaven because their speech was eloquent and profitable hearing. Christ himself specifically said that men would be judged “according to their fruits”—according to the grown seeds of that biblical truth within their own hearts. It is not enough that we merely speak the truth. Christian truth by its very nature demands a change in one’s lifestyle, because the truth of Christianity is Jesus Christ who died for our sins, who called upon all men to believe in him in order to be given eternal life. The gospel must take root in our very hearts and minds, and then this will naturally grow forth into our speech.

Act on the Bible
This falls along similar lines as the previous argument. Christians must not lazily speak the teachings of the gospel—they must also live them.

Immediately brought to mind are Paul’s letters to the Thessalonians. Not merely because I have been focusing on them lately in my own reading of the bible, but because their example applies to our own situation as Christians. Here in a church that had impressed Paul so very much by its faith and perseverance, problems with idleness still existed. This idleness, though based on knowledge received from the gospel (they did not then have our New Testament canon, but nonetheless read many of its works), was still wrong.

The church in Thessalonica realized, through their encounters with the scripture, that the End of Days was coming. They understood that Christ was going to return, and on that day all would be judged. Moreover they took Christ’s command of vigilance to heart—in fact, they did so to the point where they became idle, constantly waiting for the second coming.

We mustn’t wait around in idleness, speaking and believing the word of God, but never behaving under its jurisdiction. If we do this, we will go before our maker one day, ill-equipped. Truly living under the jurisdiction of the scripture means doing. It means that we must support the gospel in living by its example, so that others would see this and be reached.

In contrast, when we do sit about in idleness, we set a different example for the world of unbelievers—we become hypocrites. This, I think, is very much a problem for Americans today. The continual opinion I hear expressed regarding Christianity is that we are a religion of hypocrites, who talk and preach about God’s law and call, and then do not live our lives in a way that would suggest our acceptance. I believe this is very much true for many American Christians.

Put Down the Bible, and Pray
I once heard an interesting analogy with respect to prayer. Someone wrote that our relationship with God is very much like that between a husband and wife—gender differences (and differences in nature) put aside. When a man and a wife enter into sexual union—when they become one flesh as Genesis puts it—their relationship is strengthened. When they enter into it again, their relationship is strengthened even more. So it is with God, but in the place of sexual intimacy, we have a non-romantic intimacy through prayer.

Certainly we all remember the famous image, a child knelt beside his bed, hands folded, head bowed, deep in prayer. This is very much how anyone ought to approach it—as a child would. Jesus specifically tells us that whoever shall not accept the kingdom of god like a little child, shall not enter. And so we must humble ourselves before God, and enter into our conversation with him as a child would with his father. We are the children—our father teaches us and we must accept his teaching with an open heart and mind.

It is obviously very easy to say that we must approach prayer like a child, but how to do this takes more explaining.

One thing Americans appear to lack with regard to prayer is time. If I ever ask anyone about how much of their day they devote to personal discourse with God, a common response is that their day simply does not provide them with the time to do it. Well then, we must simply make the time. This is certainly more easily said than done, but here it is essential and as simple as that. We must make the time.

Imagine yourself married. Your husband or wife comes home everyday, but is caught up in their own doings and never says even a word to you, apart from a simple “hello” and “good night”. I imagine you would feel neglected and forgotten. It is the same with God—when we do not even devote a little bit of our long days to at least thinking about him, we neglect him and forget. This is something I encounter continually from day to day. When I do not pray, or when I pray to little, I feel unhappy (and it often takes me a while to see the correspondence between prayer and emotion). I feel less so in a relationship with God than I would had I spoken with him for the past days. And then this is quickly remedied by prayer at the first opportunity—and if I cannot foresee the opportunity, I make the opportunity. Therefore when you pray, do it on a regular basis; designate a time of day that you will spend in prayer, that will act as a bare minimum if you are able to find no additional time that day. You cannot talk to or think about God too much.

However, it is easy to fall into a trap here. God cares less about the volume of our prayers, or their frequency than he does about their content. We would do well not to repeat ourselves continually in our prayers; when we have exhausted a topic of its need for prayer, we move on to another. God wants us to speak with him, but he more specifically wants us to speak meaningfully to him. Just as in my previous example, readers should imagine their husband or wife coming home at the end of the day. This time, they speak with you, thanking you for something that you did for them, or something that they learned on account of you. You would, of course, be grateful and thankful for this praise. But then, as they ramble on repeatedly about how happy they are, it will mean less to you. Certainly you are happy for them, but you want to hear about other things as well—this one point surely couldn’t have been the content of their entire day. It is the same with God. He is happy for us and accepting of our praise and thanksgiving, but he wants to hear about everything from us, the good and the bad both.

In terms of length, though, at least ten to fifteen minutes every day should be a bare minimum. The reason for this lies in the goings on in the human mind during prayer. It simply takes us a while to reach the proper state of penitence and subjugation before God when we speak to him. Humans cannot approach him as one would approach his best friend—this, I think, is happening too much in our churches today. We do not speak with God to ‘hang out’ with him, we speak with God to express our love for and dependence on him. This demands that we approach him, as I said before, in the way a child would approach his father. We must accept that he is our teacher, that he is much greater in years and wisdom. In order to reach this mindset, longer prayers are necessary. So the one block of time every day that I have spoken of should have a bare minimum time requirement itself.

Now I will provide a refined method of daily prayer that I have utilized for a very long time, which I think if carried out properly, will speak to any Christian in the way he ought to be reached.

In addition to length, there are many ways to approach this mindset of humbleness as soon as possible. One of these is to begin prayer with a confession (rather than by confessing all of one’s sins for the day, a prayer that instead reaches all of them). There is nothing wrong with having a standard prayer for this, as long as you are sure to ponder the words always as you say them. To illustrate an example, I will provide my own confessional prayer—based off of Anglican liturgy—that I always begin with:

Most merciful God, I confess that I have sinned against you, in thought word and deed, by what I have done, and by what I have left undone. I have not loved you with my whole heart; I have not loved my neighbor as myself. I am truly sorry, and I humbly repent. For the sake of your son, Jesus Christ, have mercy on me and forgive me, that I may delight in your will, and walk in your ways, to the glory of your name forever. Amen.

Assuming that you meditate on the implications of what you say, as you say it, this will put you in an immediate state of humility and servitude before God—the mode of thinking that we owe him. From here we may proceed to thanksgiving.

We do not only owe God our repentance, we furthermore owe him our thanks. This is merely what is due to his name because of his grace and mercy. It is enriching to a relationship with God for one to continually tell him how grateful one is. This aspect of prayer should not be difficult for someone who is endeavoring to build a stronger relationship with Jesus. When a Christian knows that God is always present, always listening, always merciful, and always forgiving, his natural reaction is to humble himself and give thanks. Furthermore, when a Christian remembers that God is also always a judge, always sovereign, always watching, and always commanding, this desire is strengthened even more. Fear, the bible tells us, will help us find the knowledge of God as much as love will.

It is particularly effective to give thanks to God immediately after one’s confession. When a man abases himself before the Lord in the slough of his realized sin, he then is compelled to praise the One who is forgiving in spite of this deficiency. Therefore I recommend that Christians in prayer direct a large portion of their time to thanks, and that they should do so after repentance. It is merely the logical order.

Now we may pray for ourselves. In our continuing relationships with God, it is fitting to make our desires and questions known to him aloud. This brings us into a sense of openness and reliance on God’s presence in our lives—we are willing to bring all of our thoughts and petitions before him. And we are to request that he answer them in a way that would speak to us, so that we could learn something more about his will for us.

Finally, prayer is meant to reach out to others as much as it is for us. Every night, I pray for friends at school—that God would keep building up the Christian ones, and that God would reach the non-Christian ones. I then pray for individuals. Perhaps people I know who need help, who are afraid of something, who are confused or upset. This is just as important as one’s own relationship with God. As Christians we are called (as we have gone over repeatedly) to help others and to make disciples of the whole world. Prayer is a means to this end.

To sum up, prayer is an essential part of the Christian life; any Christian will feel worse off and incomplete without it. This is our direct, open conversation with the God we profess to love. A Christian without prayer is like a stream without a source—he cannot allow God’s message and will to flow through him, leaving him like a dry riverbed. Prayer is our most intimate link to God, and without it our relationship with him loses its closeness and continuity.

A Final Word

Jesus is our life raft, cast into the muck and grime in which we flail and perish, thrown in so that we might cling to him or otherwise drown. He is God, and He is human—all at the same time, and just as much one as the other. He will not harm us in hatred, nor will he accept us when we are unrepentant. His love for us is so immense and incalculable that despite our rebelliousness toward him, he was made flesh and dwelt among us, and he suffered the most agonizing and terrifying death mankind could ever possibly devise. He does not cause our problems or the problems of the whole world—he provides deliverance from them. He reveals himself as creator and sovereign Lord of the universe, through his prophets and through his worldly ministry. And he always is willing to embrace us again, even after we spit in his face and pull away. That is but a grain of sand on the great beach of his love for us.

No one is God’s blind spot. Our distance from him is the result of our departure, or the result of our never having come into his arms to begin with. We feel separated from Jesus because we do not attempt to live our lives in the way I have just described, always asking for his help and his blessing. We feel separated because of the deep rut we are in, that only he may help us out of. God has no blind spot. Our relationship with him is best summed up as that of a pair in an embrace, in which he has us bound to him in an eternal union of love and closeness—from which we continually pull away, but are always, always taken back.