Drawing closer to God

We no longer have to go through the rituals of the Old Testament to get right with God. We just have to realise that Jesus sacrificed himself for our sins so that we can be forgiven and not be condemned for our sins.

This is something that really jumped out at me the other day: I’ve recently been reading through the book of Numbers in the Old Testament and, being a bit OCD, I started at the beginning and I am reading right through to the end. To put it bluntly – it’s hard going! Sacrifice two of these, one of those and five of them, bring a drink offering for this and a grain offering for that. The more I read, the busier the Israelites seemed to be. They were a grumbling people who God was trying to put right before he led them into the Promised Land. 

They seem to have spent an amazing amount of time trying to get right with God and to keep themselves spiritually clean. Not only that, God also instructed his people to make a sanctuary for him so He could dwell among them and His directions were very detailed, precise and exact. Many of the skilled people were working hard to make the things that God asked of them. God was leading them on a very real journey and it was hard work! 

Things are very different now. We hit the New Testament and Jesus showed up. He came to take on our sins and be the ultimate sacrifice so that we are forgiven. We no longer have to go through the rituals of the Old Testament to get right with God. We just have to realise that Jesus sacrificed himself for our sins so that we can be forgiven and not be condemned for our sins. I suppose in a sense that makes things quite a bit more simple! Nowadays we are busy with other things in our lives such as work, kids / grandkids, hobbies, house work, commuting, the list goes on! When we finally have a moment free we want some ‘me time’. All these things we put first before trying to find time to spare for the Lord, our Saviour, the one who endured an agonising death on the cross for our sake! 

I’m just as guilty of not spending enough time in fellowship with my Saviour as anyone else, but how do we find time for God in our busy lives? We need to prioritise and take Jesus with us! What’s more important; spending time in prayer thanking God for all our provisions or doing the washing up? If the washing up is turning into a pile because we have been spending time with God then we should sing praises to God while we wash up! Read your bible, worship or pray on your commute to work (careful if you’re driving!) Be mindful of WWJD (What Would Jesus Do?) Would He appreciate where your conversation is going? Do you have an opportunity to ask someone if you could pray for them. 

Take Jesus everywhere with you and let him be a part of what you are doing. Now you are spending time with God. James 4:8 ‘Come near to God and he will come near to you’. 

Author: Samantha Tarplin 

May God bless and enrich your life

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