Live closer to God
Live closer to God
In Art Linkletter’s book Kids Say the Darndest Things, he tells the story of a man who took his grandson to church. During the service, some of the people began praying—almost wailing—rather emotionally and loudly. The little boy asked what they were doing. His grandpa said, “They are praying to God, who is way up in heaven.” He turned to his grandpa and said, “You know, Grandpa, if those people would live closer to God they wouldn’t have to pray so loud.”
Yes, kids do say the darndest things. But sometimes they express something very spiritually deep. If you would live closer to God—not in the physical sense but in the sense of being spiritually closer to his Word—you wouldn’t have to pray so loud. If you did live closer to God, you would be more confident that your future is in his hands.
Jews of Jesus’ day didn’t understand that Jesus was God and man. They said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I came down from heaven’?” (John 6:42). Had they been closer to the Word of God, they would have understood that the promised Messiah would be God made flesh. Isaiah wrote clearly, “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14), which means “God with us.” It should have been no surprise to them that Jesus was supposed to be a man, so that he could act as their substitute on the cross. But Isaiah revealed that Jesus also had to be God so that his sacrifice could be sufficient to pay the price for all mankind.
The closer you and I live to God, the more confident we will be that the future is in his hands. Why is it that some people pray so loudly and get so emotionally upset and so distraught over things that don’t go the way they want them to go? Often it’s because they are not living close enough to God to know that the man who died on the cross for their sins is also the God who is in control of all things and with whom nothing is impossible. So many people today, like the Jews of Jesus’ day, fail to understand that Jesus was both true God and true man.
If some believe that Jesus is just the kid from down the block, like the Jews claimed—the carpenter’s son and no more—is it any wonder that they pray awfully loud and wring their hands and go to pieces when things in their lives take unexpected turns? They don’t understand that the Jesus who gave up his life for their forgiveness is also the God who is in heaven controlling all things for their good. They don’t have that confidence that the man who could bleed and die for their sins is also the God who can do anything to get them through even the toughest of times.
Yes, kids do say the darndest things. But sometimes they express something very spiritually deep. If you would live closer to God—not in the physical sense but in the sense of being spiritually closer to his Word—you wouldn’t have to pray so loud. If you did live closer to God, you would be more confident that your future is in his hands.
Jews of Jesus’ day didn’t understand that Jesus was God and man. They said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I came down from heaven’?” (John 6:42). Had they been closer to the Word of God, they would have understood that the promised Messiah would be God made flesh. Isaiah wrote clearly, “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14), which means “God with us.” It should have been no surprise to them that Jesus was supposed to be a man, so that he could act as their substitute on the cross. But Isaiah revealed that Jesus also had to be God so that his sacrifice could be sufficient to pay the price for all mankind.
The closer you and I live to God, the more confident we will be that the future is in his hands. Why is it that some people pray so loudly and get so emotionally upset and so distraught over things that don’t go the way they want them to go? Often it’s because they are not living close enough to God to know that the man who died on the cross for their sins is also the God who is in control of all things and with whom nothing is impossible. So many people today, like the Jews of Jesus’ day, fail to understand that Jesus was both true God and true man.
If some believe that Jesus is just the kid from down the block, like the Jews claimed—the carpenter’s son and no more—is it any wonder that they pray awfully loud and wring their hands and go to pieces when things in their lives take unexpected turns? They don’t understand that the Jesus who gave up his life for their forgiveness is also the God who is in heaven controlling all things for their good. They don’t have that confidence that the man who could bleed and die for their sins is also the God who can do anything to get them through even the toughest of times.
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