Good AdviceSample

How to Get Close to God

No one thinks, “You know what? My life has been so full of passion and joy lately. I really need to find a way to distance myself from this ‘God’ character.” But all of us find ourselves neglecting time with Him, hanging around people who bring us down, giving into temptations that make us feel distant, putting our desires first, and mustering up a half-dead imitation of faith. If someone told us to do those things, we’d say, “Get away, you crazy person! That’s bad advice.”

Here are five pieces of solid advice for getting closer to God.

1. Give Him your time. That’s right. Quality time is one of God’s love languages—He likes it. As an added benefit, being around the Creator of the Universe, Savior of humanity, and author of your faith tends to make you a better human. So read His texts (the Bible), reply to them (prayer), and just hang out sometimes (worship).
2. Get around good people. As humans, we tend to like the things our friends like, do the things our friends do, and stay away from the things our friends avoid. Just adding some high-quality people to your life can help you begin making decisions that strengthen your relationship with your heavenly Father.
3. Eliminate as much temptation as possible. Struggling with alcoholism? Don’t keep one bottle. Eat too much? Tell someone close to you and ask for reminders to eat healthy. Porn addiction? Sign up for every ad block, digital accountability, and safe search possible. You get the picture. Remember, this stuff doesn’t automatically make you close to God, but leave room for temptation to grow and it turns into death.
4. Love God most. Anything that promises satisfaction without God in the picture is an idol. This doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy hobbies, relationships, and stuff. It just means you can’t enjoy them in God’s place. Loving God most means you know you can only get ultimate satisfaction from deepening your relationship with Him.
5. Be wholehearted. Sometimes we say the right things but don’t do them. We talk about loving our neighbor as ourselves but haven’t even met our neighbors. We sing a God-worship song but live a me-worship life. We’ve all experienced a heart divided by words and actions. But when we marry word to truth, faith to works, and head to heart, that’s when we become wholehearted followers of Christ.