Pondering

My mother described my great-grandfather as a stern man—one of whom his grandchildren were afraid. All, that is, except my mother. She spoke of a special relationship between grandfather and her; and she was able to relate to him in a way her cousins never dared. Somehow, even as a child, my mother sensed that there was more to her grandfather than the sternness that brought fear to the other children. Although everyone drew back, she dared to approach him and found there to be so much more to the man than what people could see on the surface.

Turned out, my great-grandfather was loving, and fun-loving. He welcomed my mother near—to play with him—even to ride ‘horsy’ on his back! Whenever the family went to the country to visit the grandparents, my mother would run straight to grandfather as soon as they arrived. Because of their relationship, my great-grandfather was able to give my mother special treats and gifts that the cousins were never able to take part in. She had the privilege of sitting on his lap and hearing stories of the samurai, of whom we are direct descendants. Although my mother loved her cousins, and played often with them, she loved grandfather more. Being with him became her priority when the family would go to the country.

My mother found ‘the way’ to her grandfather’s heart, and thus enjoyed an intimacy with him the others could only witness from afar. As I thought on this, this morning, I saw such a parallel between my mother’s relationship with her grandfather, and my own relationship with God.

So many of us are like the cousins—afraid to draw near to God—seeing Him as stern and unapproachable. And, in a way, He is. God is God, after all. He is holy, and we all fall short of His glory (Romans 3:23). But God loves, too. He longs for His children to draw near to Him in intimacy. To sit on His lap, so to speak, and hear His story.

There was ‘a way’ to my great-grandfather’s heart, and there is a Way to God’s heart. His name is Jesus. Jesus said of Himself, “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. (John 14:6).

I came to know Jesus as Savior on March 3, 1980. I asked God to forgive my sins through the sacrifice that Jesus made—paying the penalty for them on the cross. But it took many years for me to go beyond the initial ‘meeting’ to real intimacy. And I am still learning to draw near. For so long, I was afraid of God, seeing Him as my mother’s cousins saw their grandfather—stern and unapproachable. I knew that I belonged to Him—was a member of His family, but I didn’t experience intimacy. I really didn’t believe in my heart that God even desired intimacy with me. Deep inside I thought that He had to accept me due to a technicality—that because Jesus paid the price, He had to grant me entrance to Heaven. But it is finally becoming clear to me that God really loves me and desires my being with Him! God isn’t content with just allowing me into Heaven. He allowed His only Son to die for me so that He could be with me!