Mind the Gap!
How close are you to God right now?
Not last year. Not when you first believed. Now. You can know the right words, attend the meetings and keep yourself busy with Christian work, yet quietly stop bringing your heart before your Heavenly Father. The gap is not measured in miles. It shows itself in prayer left until later, a Bible that stays closed, and decisions made without asking what God has said. Face it honestly, and stop the drift.
We need to be clear about what this gap means. A believer is not trying to become God's child again every time something goes wrong. We are talking about fellowship: the openness, obedience and daily communication of a child with his Father. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. [Romans 8:15 KJV] You come to Him as His child, not as a stranger trying to persuade Him to care. That should give you confidence to draw near, not an excuse to live carelessly. Being loved by your Father does not make disobedience harmless.
Keep talking to your Father
Pray without ceasing. [1 Thessalonians 5:17 KJV] That is a short verse, but it reaches into the whole day. It does not mean spending every waking hour on your knees. It means that prayer is not shut inside a Sunday meeting or a few hurried words before bed. Bring your concerns to God. Thank Him. Ask for wisdom before you speak. Keep the daily appointment, but do not leave your Father there when the appointment ends.
Look at Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed. [Mark 1:35 KJV] A demanding ministry did not push prayer out of His day. He made room for it. If our Lord withdrew to pray, why do we think we can keep going without it? Reading the Word belongs alongside prayer, because closeness is not merely telling God how we feel. It includes receiving what He says and doing it. The psalmist's longing is there for our learning: As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. [Psalm 42:1 KJV] Is that hunger still there, or has busyness covered it over? Start again with a passage read carefully, a prayer spoken honestly, and something obeyed today.
Face what is widening the gap
Neglect allows distance to grow quietly. Sin adds deliberate resistance: we know what God says, but choose another way. Isaiah addressed Israel with a serious warning: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. [Isaiah 59:2 KJV] We learn from that warning, but must not use it to tell a born-again believer that his Father has ceased to love him. The New Testament speaks plainly to us: And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. [Ephesians 4:30 KJV] Notice both truths. Sin grieves the Holy Spirit, and believers are sealed unto the day of redemption. Do not erase either half. Security is no permission to sin; conviction is no reason to despair.
Perhaps the thing you need to face is not dramatic. A dishonest answer. Bitterness you keep feeding. Something you watch that you know is wrong. Pride that will not apologise. You can explain it until it sounds reasonable, but explanations do not make disobedience right. Sin also deceives: what troubled you yesterday can begin to seem ordinary tomorrow. But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. [Hebrews 3:13 KJV] That is why you need believers around you who will tell you the truth, not simply agree with your excuses. And stay watchful. Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: [1 Peter 5:8 KJV] Do not give the enemy room through a habit you refuse to bring into the light.
Turn back today, not when you feel worthy
Here is the comfort: you do not have to remain there. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. [1 John 1:9 KJV] Forgiveness rests on God's faithfulness, not on how convincingly you punish yourself. Confession means naming what you have done without dressing it up. Repentance means turning from it, not merely regretting the consequences. If you have lied, tell the truth. If you have hurt someone, apologise and put right what you can. If you keep returning to the same temptation, stop arranging your day so that it is always within reach. You cannot ask for a different walk whilst deliberately keeping the same wrong road open.
Remember the returning son in Luke 15. And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. [Luke 15:20 KJV] Jesus used that picture to show the welcome given to the returning sinner. It is not permission to wander; it is encouragement to return. Nor should we take King David's Old Testament prayer about the Holy Spirit — [Psalm 51:11 KJV] — and turn it into a threat against believers whom Ephesians says are sealed. Learn his honesty and sorrow over sin, whilst holding fast to what the New Testament tells us about our standing. Your Father is not asking you to spend a week hiding before you dare approach Him. Come honestly. Come now.
Then keep walking. Make time with God tomorrow, speak to Him through the hours, answer conviction when it comes, and stay among believers who encourage obedience. Do not judge closeness only by a warm feeling; bring your life under the Word. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. [James 4:8 KJV] That is an invitation with a response attached. You cannot remove the instruction and keep only the reassurance. Bring the thing you have been avoiding before your Father today. Do not wait until it feels smaller. Mind the gap — and stop making room for it.
Key Takeaways:
- Come to God as His child, not as a stranger. — [Romans 8:15 KJV]
- Keep prayer open through the whole day. — [1 Thessalonians 5:17 KJV]
- Make room for prayer, as Jesus did. — [Mark 1:35 KJV]
- Sin grieves the Holy Spirit; your sealed standing is no excuse for carelessness. — [Ephesians 4:30 KJV]
- Confess honestly and trust God’s faithfulness to forgive. — [1 John 1:9 KJV]
- Deal with sin promptly and accept truthful encouragement. — [Hebrews 3:13 KJV]
- Stay watchful rather than making room for temptation. — [1 Peter 5:8 KJV]
- Draw near with an obedient response, not merely a warm feeling. — [James 4:8 KJV]
Where to go from here:
Read [Romans 8:15 KJV], [Ephesians 4:30 KJV] and [1 John 1:9 KJV] together. Hold your standing as God’s child alongside His call to an obedient walk, and take today’s step without putting it off.
📽️ Watch this teaching 👉 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bf37diuQAZ4&list=PLhtPbQ4aPQH5L9BycdIkD1Cmh288M1oaK&index=1&t
🧭 Start Here — Who We Are in Christ! — the teachings to read first 👉 https://back-to-basics-christian-living.ghost.io/start-here/
🎥 The playlist to watch alongside them 👉 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEPKdqB9RuLI
➡️ Next — Friday: Part 5 — Christianity With Its Shoes On
That is where we begin: who we are in Christ, taken in order. Then, Monday to Thursday, we take one truth and look at it from four sides — this week, the Christian Walk. Fridays, we work through a series — at present Ephesians: The Letter Written to You. One email on Sunday closes the week and opens the next.
🙏 Write and tell us what God has done 👉 backtobasicschristianliving@gmail.com, and let us know if we're free to share it in The Christian Compass on Sundays, to encourage someone else. And if this helped you, send it to one person who needs it this week.
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