Closer Than Close

Music is my muse. I love music of all genres and all eras alike; however, old school R&B music is one of my favorites.

Growing up in the mid to late eighties my mother did not allow secular music to be played in the home. I would often have to sneak away to listen to radio music and during that time The Quiet Storm was everything. #IYKYK (If You Know You Know). So, when I saw the title for today’s devotional, it reminded me of a song by Atlantic Starr that was heavily played on radio around that time. I couldn’t resist the chance to write today’s devotional and incorporate this song with the text.
 
Closer than close, well
Closer than most
I just see so much in you
And I want a better view
I want to look deeper into you, yeah (lines 1-5)

These words are the intro to a love song titled “Let’s Get Closer,” from the album Brilliance recorded by Atlantic Starr released in 1982. Like most love songs, one would suggest the words to this song signify a desire to deepen a relationship or intimacy by expressing a want for a stronger bond and greater closeness with another. This is precisely the very thing that God desires from us.
 
Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you (v8). We’ve been conditioned to place value on the tangible things in life, we want to physically see, hear, feel and touch everything. It’s so easy to fall in love with people, places, and things when our senses are involved on a worldly level of desire. Social media, the internet, and podcasts to name a few have all set the standard on how we are to cultivate our relationships with each other in today’s world. Then, when all things that are not rooted in God’s Word fail to produce such desired outcomes in our lives we question, "why Lord?”.

If only we desired our God who created us and the Heavens and the Earth as much as He desires us. Then and only then we would truly experience how much our Lord and Savior is in love with us. God’s love for us is reflected in the song as it supersedes all other love combined in this world and lasts forever: “Infinitely, endlessly, yeah” (line 13).

How do we get closer than close to God so that He will get closer to us? We do so through submission and by faith. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you (v7). When we surrender ourselves to God in full submission through acts of obedience and trust, we then allow the Spirit of the Lord to take control. By simply resting in Him and praying in the Spirit, God will do the work with us through us. It is then that we experience a beautiful transformation on a spiritual level. A closeness so close to God that the whole world can see Him in us.

Of course, there will be days that we will falter because it is in our sinful nature, however, we must pray for guidance, believe we are righteous, and continue to seek Him. Through Faith by hearing the Word of God and by reading the Word we begin to fall in love with God effortlessly. Then, on this Christian journey to true transformation, we get closer than close to God.

As we continue on this Lenten journey, let us remember this week’s prayer focus is letting our actions and reactions be rooted in a willingness to renew broken or fractured relationships. Our closeness to God helps us mend broken relationships with others, and because of our closeness to God we are able to see the God in others as well.
 
Prayer: Dear Lord, thank you for your grace and mercy. Lord thank you for being the love of my life. Thank you for walking with me and transforming me and allowing me to get closer to you in the Spirit. Thank you for graciously allowing me to experience your love infinitely, endlessly. Amen.