Originally written in August, 2014
What does it mean to “Get right (or be right) with God”? I’ve heard that statement thrown around like a command “you need to get right with God”. Depending upon the heart and attitude of the one who says it can mean anything from “I love and care for you” to “you don’t meet up to my standards”.
What does it mean to the one it is being spoken to? If I were told that, should I think that means I need to stop living the life I am currently living and change all my ways? It sounds flippant. Can I do a 180̊ turn in my own strength, and just “stop” whatever it is that people believe I am doing wrong? Is that what it means to get right with God? Do I even know all the things I’m doing “wrong”? What or who then becomes the standard I measure myself against?
First, I would need to correct my thinking. I would not measure up to any standard, let alone the standard of Christ. That is the whole point of why He died for me, for us, because we don’t measure up. Second, I would need to understand that getting right with God does not entail a list of do’s and don’ts; it is an attitude of the heart.
As Author James Bank once wrote, as I delight myself in the Lord, He becomes the desire of my heart. If I think about what it means to delight myself in the Lord, and Him becoming the desire of my heart, I must know that is going to impact a whole lot of other things I currently focus on instead. As I look back, I realize that my relationship with my Lord has changed me. The impulses of my heart are no longer the same. It didn’t happen overnight, but as Philippians 1:6 says, He who began a good work in me will perform it until the day of Christ Jesus.
So I don’t have to fret or worry that I’m finding it hard to outwardly change bad habits. All I have to do is love my Jesus and keep my eyes focused on Him. He promises to do the rest, and as Oswald Chambers once put it, “to make us one with Himself”. It is only then that I begin to become a reflection of Him.
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