My precious child,
Draw near. Approach Me. Proserchomai.
It saddens Me when you cower so.
I do recognize your fear. I saw it first in the eyes of your earthly father, Adam and your earthly mother, Eve. They too ran and hid when they acted independently of Me (Genesis 3:8).
But you’ve been adopted away from that family, remember? I’ve given you a new heart and a new spirit, so that the old family heritage no longer has influence over you (Ezekiel 36:26; Romans 6:14). You are no longer blood-born, but Spirit-birthed (John 1:13).
Draw near. Approach Me. Proserchomai.
The shame that caused the Adam family to hide has been blotted out of your history. My blood has cleansed you not only from those past sins, but from your present and all future ones as well (1 John 1:7). Sin isn’t an issue between you and I anymore because no one who is generated by Me can bear forth a shoot of sin (1 John 3:9). It’s physically impossible.
Draw near. Approach Me. Proserchomai.
I know it’s hard to visualize – this new state of Life I see so easily within you. To you, the old man seems ever alive – able to overwhelm you with the habits of your past. But, just as I saw ahead into the death caused by the first Adam’s disobedience (Genesis 2:17; Genesis 5:5), I see ahead into your state of eternal life (Romans 6:8-10). My point of view is always final reality.
The tit-for-tat mistakes you will make with your old man are nothing compared to the eternal glory just upon the horizon for you (Romans 8:18-19). I do not condemn you for slip-ups (Romans 8:1). Stop condemning yourself.
Draw near. Approach Me. Proserchomai.
You have the choice of two planes of life. Your present can either be lived from the dead one of the past or the living One of the future.
The old life, clearly recognized as dead and defeated, limps along toward final destruction. This old “man” I’ve unemployed, put out of operation, laid off – to use the Greek katargeo of Romans 6:6. No longer do you have to depend upon the activity produced by this worthless slave (Romans 6:12-13).
No, now you can depend on your otherworldly Life – the One flowing into you from Mine. This new Life is an altogether different One, accessed only through faith in Me (Galatians 2:20). It is not like My Life. It is My Life – approached and known only as your physical gives way to My spiritual (Colossians 1:27).
See now? You must draw near. Approach Me. Proserchomai.
Not because you are irreproachable, but because I have invited. Not because you are guiltless, but because I am glorious. Not because you are virtuous, but because I am victorious.
Draw near:
- with confidence (Hebrews 4:16; 10:19)
- with a cleansed conscience (Hebrews 10:22) and
- with Me as your complete salvation (Hebrews 7:25).
Approach Me, no matter how you feel. I’m waiting for you.
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