Drawing Near to God – Andrew Murray

Christ is not the End but the Way. He came to reveal the Father, to bring us unto God, to open a way in which we could draw near to God. Many Christians regard Christ as the End: if they have found him they are content. They do not understand that to have found Christ is just the beginning: the true End is to know God, and to have communion with him, to serve him, to receive the manifestation of God himself in one’s soul. This knowledge of God is given to those who cannot rest content without it.

The question may be asked, what is the difference between drawing near to Jesus, who is God, and drawing near to God? The answer is twofold. For one thing, in Jesus the divine has been clothed in human garb, and so it is hard to be sure how far it is really the divine in Jesus which attracts us. For another, in Jesus the divine grace and mercy is above all revealed, so in him we are all too apt to be seeking only our salvation, while we profess to be seeking God. The true test of the reality of our turning to God, the proof that we are not merely seeking salvation, is this: that we prize Christ and his work because he brings us to God, because in him we draw near to God.

(Excerpted from The Promise of the Spirit, pg. 57)

Andrew Murray