How To Come To God

Those who are left will be the lowly and humble, for it is they who trust in the name of the LORD. [Zephaniah 3.12]

I am purposefully pulling this verse out of context today, but for good reason. This verse contains universal truth irrespective of its context.

The universal truth found in Zephaniah 3.12 is that only the lowly and humble truly trust God. It is inferred therefore that pride and arrogance have no place with faith in God.

For the sake of argument and contrast, let's compare Zephaniah 3.12 with Hebrews 4.16:

So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most. [Hebrews 4.16]

Christianity, particularly those whose pursuit of faith embraces miracles, seems to have a distorted view of what coming boldly to the throne of God really looks like. I am afraid most modern understanding of Hebrews 4.16 is that people can barge into God's presence as if to come tell God 'how it's going to be.' But, nothing could be more inaccurate!

The writer of Hebrews was not unclear, but man's perception of what Hebrews 4.16 actually says is! To focus on the word "boldly" without the understanding of "receive His mercy" and "find grace to help" is a recipe for arrogance that God hates! "Mercy" and "grace" need to be considered for what they are and how they come to man. 

Mercy is given to those who are undeserving but ask for it anyway. Mercy is what a guilty man asks a judge for in spite of his guilty verdict. The only boldness one can have in this circumstance is to humbly ask for mercy. There is absolutely no room for pride in this situation.

Grace on the other hand is a favor given to the undeserving without it being asked for. The only correct and bold response to grace is to offer thanksgiving. Genuine thanksgiving, by nature, also has no pride associated with it.

The commonality between mercy and grace is their effect upon the undeserving. For a person to understand the word "bold" in the context of his or her "undeserving" condition is the only way to benefit from what Hebrews 4.16 teaches. I fear that much of our faith teaching today has fostered pride instead of humility by focusing on the word "bold" without contemplating mercy's and grace's implication of our undeserving condition.

For the record, yes, Christ has redeemed us. However, Jesus, by virtue of His sacrificial death on the Cross preceded by His demand that His followers take up their own crosses and follow Him, NEVER taught or advocated for pride and arrogance in the lives of His followers! Jesus' trust in God is seen nowhere more clearly than in His lowly and humble act upon the Cross. OUR trust in God through Jesus is seen nowhere more clearly than in our daily lowly and humbly taking up our cross.

The Apostle Paul (likely the writer of Hebrews) summed up Jesus' life quite accurately in the following:

You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross. [Philippians 2.5-8]

Now, I know many will argue, "We are resurrected with Christ so the cross is behind us!" That might sound good, except that Jesus was specific that we are to take up our cross daily. This task is not a one-and-done deal for us. Jesus lowly and humble demonstration on the Cross IS our daily task. What Jesus did on the Cross, in one word, is forgive. God's love put Jesus on the Cross, but Jesus' forgiveness accomplished the task for which He was placed there. When we associate this to our daily task on our own crosses, we should arrive at no other conclusion that that forgiveness is our daily task. Our boldness, in light of mercy and grace, is to forgive. And, stay with me, Jesus told us in no uncertain terms, that if we are to be forgiven (the universal need of mankind and for which we boldly approach the throne of God) then we MUST forgive! Our ONLY boldness therefore before the throne of God is our forgiveness of others.

But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins. [Matthew 6.16]

There is no pride in forgiving others - only lowliness and humility ...and herein is the Love of God seen - He humbled Himself in Christ in order to love us. The depth of this love is beyond our understanding:

May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. [Ephesians 3.19]

God hates pride - and for good reason.

Father, may those of us who claim to pursue You, actually purpose to look and act like You - like Jesus - in complete humility. May our boldness have not an ounce of pride but be the boldness of the absolute humility of forgiveness in coming to You fully relying upon Your mercy and grace upon our undeserving condition. So be it.