October 30, 2024

Ephesians 3.12 (NIV)

In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.

To separate faith from confidence would be an attempt to take away heat and light from the sun.*

In my previous job, I and my colleagues from around the state went to the State Capitol to lobby our representatives regarding proposed legislation. My counterpart from another county and I ran into one of her legislators in the hallway and had a brief chat. I expected the same from most of my reps except for one – I had been friends with him and his wife more than 20 years - and his aide was my former next-door neighbor. My friend was out of the office in a meeting when we got there but his aide volunteered to take us to him in spite of my insistence not to bother him. He took us to a door that opened onto the dais of the meeting room where my friend sat. When he spotted me, he didn’t just smile and wave in acknowledgement of my presence – he got up from his important (and perhaps boring) meeting and came out to talk to us. Not surprisingly, my colleague was impressed by my warm reception from such a prominent person!

Contrast that kind of approachability with the story of Esther. She risked her life to approach the king without an invitation. . . And then look at our access to God. We don’t need an appointment. He doesn’t have his secretary screen his calls. Jesus has removed all obstacles from our path to the throne of the most powerful being in the universe.

There may be dangers in approaching God carelessly* or in becoming unduly familiar,* but let us rejoice in the freedom and confidence with which we may draw near to God. With Jesus as our royal escort, we are always welcome in the presence of God.

The same freedom that gives us confidence to speak to God also gives us confidence to fellowship with him.*