Repentance, not holiness, is what keeps you close to God.
There’s an old story about a man and woman who were “celebrating” their anniversary. They dressed for dinner without talking. They drove to the restaurant with only talk radio breaking the silence. They ordered and ate a delicious meal, but their hearts were neither nourished by a meaningful glance nor fed by retelling the stories of their life together.
As they drove home, he staring firmly ahead and she looking with longing out the passenger window, she spoke the first words of the evening. “What happened to us? We used to be so close, but now I feel we’re so far apart. When did we move so far away from each other?”
And the husband replied, “ . . . I never moved.”
If you feel far from God, it’s you that’s moved.
God is always faithful. His love is always graceful. His disposition towards you is always merciful. He has not now nor ever has moved away from you.
But perhaps you’ve moved away from Him.
How will you get back? Will you make the long journey back to God by manufacturing some emotion in your long-cold heart? Will you find your way back to Him by doubling—no, tripling!—your efforts to be holy?
Or today, when you hear His voice, will you simply let your heart be softened, turn to Him in repentance, and instantly be ushered into His presence, surrounded by the shouts of joy and celebration of all of Heaven at the lost sheep that is now found, the wayward child who has come home?
Repentance, and not holiness, is what keeps you close to God. The cross of Christ bids you come and die in repentance so that you may live in His righteousness. The entire life of the Christian is one of repentance. Not just a penitent tear shed from time to time, not an emotional outpouring . . . just the simple act of living by clinging to His cross alone as your hope for peace and forgiveness.
“You are proved right when You speak and justified when You judge. Against You, You only have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight. Have mercy on me, a sinner, and restore to me the joy of my salvation.”
Be close to God once more. Live as a Christian today. Live a life of repentance.
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