Tuesday: A Little Closer

Luke 24:15-16, “While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing him.”

“Back in my day,” people used to read newspapers and magazines quite often. One of my favorite sections of those newspapers and magazines was the “Breaking News” section. Just kidding, it was the game section. I may or may not have messed up my dad’s crossword puzzles on numerous occasions, but in my defense, my word choices really did fit the clues. Another game I was not particularly good at, but my sister excelled at, was the “spot the differences” in two pictures game. She could find those differences so quickly, and before I found a single one, she had circled all 8 differences. It was infuriating. How was she able to see the differences so easily? I’d ask her and she would respond with, “It’s simple. I took a closer look.” 

My niece Natalie is really talented with being able to do hair and makeup. She watches these YouTube tutorials and then whips out her makeup brushes and supplies and can turn a “regular mom” into a “cool mom” within minutes. God bless her. One day I asked her to teach me to wing my eyeliner, don’t worry, we both decided I’m too old for winged eyeliner – just kidding. I’m not too old for winged eyeliner; however, I do rub my eyes too much for it. Anyways, she brought out a mirror for me to look into as she taught me. However, she didn’t bring out just any old mirror; she brought out a mirror from my nightmares – it was a magnifying mirror. I could count my pores. This mirror also had lights. My pores had pores. Enough said. 

Why did I share these two silly stories with you? Because so often we talk about wanting to have a closer relationship with God, but we don’t like the steps we must take in order to have that close relationship with Him. All too often, we talk about how God seems so far away, when He is walking right next to us and we fail to see Him because we are so focused on ourselves, our disappointment, and our own beliefs in what He should be doing for us, in us, and around us. When I was reading the account on the Road to Emmaus in Luke 24, I couldn’t help but shake my head when the two disciples didn’t recognize Jesus. They walked seven miles with Him, talking about all that had happened to Jesus of Nazareth. They were literally walking with Jesus right next to them, and they didn’t recognize Him. Before we get all judgy, how often have we done the same to our Savior? Where we decide to walk through the fire, the storm, the trial, the valley, the muck – and tell ourselves we are doing it on our own. That Christ has forsaken us. We throw ourselves quite the pity party and send out invitations to a party of one: Ourselves. We undoubtedly make our circumstances much harder than they need to be when we ignore what is right in front of us. The Truth. Psalm 145:18 says, “The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.” Jesus reminded the disciples that day that it wasn't Jesus of Nazareth’s purpose to come to suffer and fulfill the Law and all that the prophets had spoken? He then taught them the Scriptures concerning himself (vs. 25-27).   

How do we draw closer to Christ? We hold nothing back. We completely surrender all to Him. Jeremiah 29:13 promises, “You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.” We spend time with Him. The disciples urged Jesus to stay with them, and do you know what Jesus did? He stayed (vs. 29). Jesus then sat at the table with them. He ate with them. He blessed the food, and then those disciples realized Who He was. By spending time with Jesus, they didn’t just know OF Him, they knew HIM. It is easy to look at and study Scripture in a way that leads to knowledge about facts, ideas, and doctrine because it is impersonal. This approach doesn’t force us to look deeper and apply what we’ve learned to our lives; instead, it allows us to file information away in our minds, forgetting to also store it in our hearts! Deuteronomy 11:18a tells us, “You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul.” 

God is not too busy for you, and He desires to spend time with you. All throughout Scripture, we see love in action. We see Jesus pursue us, and we see His call for us to pursue Him. Taking a closer look at the Scripture in order to apply it, will reveal areas in our lives that God says we need to clean up, change, and surrender to Him. Psalm 139:23-24 implores, “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” Applying Scripture to our lives in a personal manner requires us to be brave, honest, and admit we are in desperate need of our Creator God. 

Does my heart and mind reflect what my mouth proclaims when I declare that I desire to know God? Not if I allow other things to take precedence in my life over knowing God. You want to draw closer to Jesus? Spend time with Him. This doesn’t mean just quickly skimming through your devotions or rushing through a prayer right before you eat dinner; this means slowing down, taking a good look in the mirror, cleaning yourself up, and preparing to spend real time with the King of Kings. The more I learn about God, the more I want to learn and the more I realize just how much I don’t know about Him! Studying the Word of God and exercising our faith in our daily walk with Him, allows us to grow closer to Him and understand just how fully known by God we are. How great is our God! 1 Chronicles 16:10-11 proclaims, “Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice! Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually.”

Read: Luke 24:13-48

Do: What are some verses you can study and think on to help you draw closer to Christ? What are you allowing to get in the way of you developing a closer walk with Jesus? 

Pray: Write out a prayer asking God to help you surrender those things that stand in the way of you drawing closer to Him. Include one of the verses that you want to memorize to help you develop a closer walk with Christ.