Faith, Part 3 of 3Sample

Faith gives boldness to draw near to God

“Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.” (Hebrews 10:22, NIV)

“Drawing near to God,” that is quite a thing. If you have a little self-knowledge, you can sense that this is actually not possible. The Lord God is described in the Bible as perfect, holy and infinitely great. When the prophet Isaiah sees Him in a vision, he exclaims in horror: “Woe is me! For I am lost ... for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” (Isaiah 6:5) God and man looking each other in the eye - that is impossible.

Psalm 24 asks, “Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in His holy place?” The answer is, “He who has clean hands and a pure heart” But then again, who dares say that of themselves? Surely no one does? If we were to approach God with our sinful hearts, His holiness would destroy us.

Yet Hebrews 10:22 says we may come to Him “with the full assurance that faith brings” because we have been cleansed. If by faith we accept God's offer of forgiveness, then the barrier of sin no longer stands between Him and us. Then we may actually come to God with confidence.

Do you dare to draw near to God? What exactly does that mean to you?