Reason#8: To be Closer to God

If God’s presence is everything Moses believed it was, then we too should desire to be closer to Him. The Psalms are full of adoring and reverent language about the joy of being in God’s presence.

Psalm 84:10-12
For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand outside.  I would rather stand at the threshold of the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.  For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord gives grace and glory; no good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly.  O Lord of hosts, how blessed is the man who trusts in You.  (NAS)

I mean, like, wow.  Dwell on those verses for a few minutes.  We could stop reading right here. One day is better than a thousand. No good thing does God withhold. Not one good thing. From those who walk with Him.

This is what we call perspective.  Or, in the language of Jesus, he who has ears to hear.  A heavenly perspective sees life from the vantage point of God, and from that perspective, the things the world peddles to us as so important and valuable are like garbage.  Paul uses this language in Philippians.

Philippians 3:7,8
But more than that, I am indeed regarding all things to be a loss for the sake of the surpassing greatness of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for the sake of whom I suffered loss of all things and am regarding them as garbage. (NT Transline)

The word garbage there is a little light on the translation.  The word also means dung, excrement, and refuse.  Now, we know Paul suffered.  Suffering hurts, and entails pain.  He suffered the loss of all things, not just a few CDs, his cable TV, or his bonus.  And on top of that, not only did he lose them, he calls them a big pile of crap.  Why?  Because the knowledge of God is so much greater in comparison.

Like so many Bible truths, this is very easy to say. But, do you believe it? Do you really believe it? Remember earlier what James said about hearing but not doing? If a person believes this truth, then they also must pursue God with all their heart. No pursuit, no faith.

You get to know someone by being close to them. So we who desire freedom from sin must concurrently desire to be closer to God. You can’t have one without the other.

That’s a heavenly perspective.  What value does anything on earth have compared to God’s kingdom and the promises He has made in His word?  One of the best promises of all is that we get to be with Him in glory.  In His presence.  For those who have eyes to see, this alone is a sufficient reason to want freedom.  Sin cannot be in the presence of God.  Even in this life, we can tangibly experience a measure of God’s presence.  We can be closer to Him.  All through the Bible, God draws near to some people, and withdraws from others.  We’ve already seen what happened when He withdrew from Saul.

The more we draw near to God, the more He draws near to us.  And there is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit when we set our hearts and lives apart for Him.

Reasons: Introduction

“You’ve got to let it all go.  Fear, doubt, and disbelief.  Free your mind.”
-Morpheus, to Neo, in The Matrix (1999)

Now that you have determined you want the freedom found only through the promises and the power of God, it’s worth it to spend some time considering all the reasons this freedom is so desirable.  Before exploring the keys to overcoming sexual sins and addictions in your life, you need to know what kind of life it is you want after that happens.  What does the Bible promise?  What are the blessings?  What kind of life does God offer?  What will He require from your life?

“So much potential.”  In education, teachers routinely marvel at all the potential burning within so many students.  And so many of those students, for a variety of reasons, totally or partially spoil that potential during their formative years, and are doomed to spend the rest of them looking back at what might have been.  We root for them all, but at some point, the students choose what kind of life they want.

When Neo hears the above statement from Morpheus, he has no idea what kind of life awaits.  He knows just an inkling of what is possible.  But what will be expected of him once he becomes who he was made to be?  Will he be ready?  We can ask the same questions of ourselves.  What will we do with our freedom?  What should we do?

But first, we must overcome the three hindrances of fear, doubt, and disbelief.  And the truth is this triad of timidity doesn’t just imprison our minds, but our hearts.  A fearful heart that doubts and does not really believe or trust in God is the one that seeks out comfort in the known, the familiar.  Addictions offer this comfort, and billions of people are enslaved to them in some form. But God says something different:

Colossians 3:1-6
If then you were raised with Christ, be seeking the things above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.  Be thinking the things above, not the things upon the earth.  For you died, and your life has been hidden with Christ in God.  When Christ appears–your life–then you also will appear with Him in glory.  Therefore, put to death your body-part things on earth–sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed–which is idolatry.  Because of which things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience. (NT Transline)

What God promises here and in many other places has been hidden with Christ.  Someday, we will appear with Him in glory.  This is the resurrection, and our greatest hope.  And it is far off, hard to imagine, and even harder to properly evaluate for its worth.  So we begin by asking God to start reorienting our minds, to set our minds on things above.

The disgusting and filthy comforts we run to in this life, such as pornography, alcohol, drugs, technology dependence, food, and thrill-seeking offer only temporary solace.  I know, you’ve heard that before.  Haven’t you learned yet that it’s true?  It seems that knowing this truth doesn’t help us overcome the tug of its addiction on our hearts.  Why?  Because we have set our minds on the wrong things.  We have missed the true message of Christ.

We don’t overcome sin by concentrating on avoiding it.  Thus, people often say we have to get our minds off ourselves.  That’s true, but what do we place it on?  Some people place it on others.  They get into causes, and want to serve and help other people. If I put my whole life, heart, and mind into helping others, then I won’t be so obsessed or controlled by my own flesh, and I’ll find freedom.  There’s a measure of truth in this, and serving others is one of the reasons we’re here.  But this is not the starting point on the road to freedom.  This is one possible ending point.

We rather must begin by setting our minds on the things of heaven.  The things in God’s presence.  We get our minds off ourselves, yes.  But we also get our minds off of others.  We aren’t going to find freedom by focusing on a bunch of other people who are enslaved to their own flesh, and also don’t know God.  We must think first about God, about heaven, about a life totally separate from this one.  To the atheist, this is insanity.  But it is the most rational choice you can make.

And what are the things in the presence of God?

-The absence of sin.
One of my previous pastors once described God’s plan in this way: First, Jesus died for our sins to set us free from the penalty of sin.  Second, during this life, He conforms us into His image by the renewing of our mind, and we are set free from the power of sin.  And one day, the greatest day of our lives, He will set us free from the presence of sin.  Penalty, power, and presence.  The first thing I think of when I consider the “things above” is that we are free from the presence of sin.  No hate, no theft, no racism, no lust, no abuse, no violence, no war, no exploitation, no selfishness.  And no fear, no discouragement, no apathy.  There’s no mediocrity.  I hate mediocrity.  Perhaps it’s the teacher in me.  Mediocrity is unmet potential.  Apathy is the surest way to get there.  There’s none of this in the presence of God.

-Absolute joy and peace.
The pacifists often get ridiculed for foolish idealism.  “That’s not the way the world works.  We have enemies, and if we just sit here waving flags, they’ll walk over us.  They hate us.”  In heaven, the pacifists win.  There are no enemies.  And it’s not just external peace, but even better, it’s internal.  Our hearts will be at rest.  Our souls will be satisfied.  Our rest will be complete.  There will be no longing for something we know is missing.  The joy of the Lord will truly and completely be our strength.

-The presence of God.
Moses refused to enter the Promised Land if God’s presence did not go with the people.  He would rather have stayed put and died in the wilderness than take the whole land, but do so without God’s presence by his side.  Why?  Because he understood the value of God’s presence to be greater than anything else on Earth.  In God’s presence is fullness of joy.  Understanding.  Acceptance.  Security.

We could go on.  That’s a small list.  But if you spend a day, or an hour, or even one minute seriously thinking about those three things, you will suddenly discover a very different feeling inside your heart.  Your mind is now thinking about the things above.  And God begins to change you when you value the things He values.  When you think about these things, it means you believe what His word reveals about heaven.  It means you trust that He really will provide an eternal, resurrected life that shatters anything we can think of in this one.  It means you don’t fear anything that comes against you here, because what comes after is so much better.

Courage, trust, and faith.  The antidotes to our three great enemies of fear, doubt, and disbelief.

Once the things above start to saturate our spirits, then we can start imagining a new life, and we find new reasons to want this freedom now.  I don’t want to wait until I die for this.  Does the Bible say we can have this now, or do we have to wait?  The freedom available to us in heaven would do us a little good right now as well.

What follows are 13 reasons to desire freedom now, in this life.