First, these folks misconception of God leads them to believe that they must be "pure" enough to approach God. They have the misconception that people who are close to God are virtually sinless. This of course is not true, but this is how they have been taught and this is what they think. All people are sinners and ALL people sin. The actual fact of the matter is that those folks who do get closer to Jesus in their understanding of Him are more harshly targeted by satan. Make sense? As you learn more about Spiritual Warfare, you will begin to understand this concept. Satan has to expend much more effort lying, deceiving and tricking the "found" than he does the "lost." Consequently, sometimes those closer to Jesus, still living in the sinful flesh, sin more than the average person. No one likes to admit it but is it true. When this happens, they pray just that much harder and Jesus comes to their rescue as He provides the power to overcome these temptations. But sometimes the flesh enjoys the sin and we put off praying and asking Jesus for help. If everyone understood this, there would be no looks of shock when it is announced that a preacher has committed adultery.

As for being pure, there are two yardsticks in existence. One is in our hands as we see and judge others including ourselves. The other is God’s as He sees us. Jesus knows who we are. He knew who we would be before the foundations of the world. Yes, before Jesus even created this world, He knew every hair on your head. He knew we would fall and need to be saved. He knew every action and thought that could possibly be a sin. Knowing all this, while we were yet sinners, Christ came into this world as Jesus to redeem us and make things right with God the Father. While we were yet sinners, He came down out of the heavenlies to be spit upon by us, humiliated and tortured to death. He did this of His own free will. Can you approach Him as you are today, an active practicing sinner? You bet you can. When Jesus walked here on earth, where did He spend His time? Not wining and dining with the elite upper eschelon. He sought out sinners, tax collectors and prostitutes to name a few. He went to them. He sought them out. Just as He does YOU today. Here, right now. A Perfect, Sinless, Awesome, All Powerful God, wants YOU as you are, an imperfect sinner.

Don’t try to deceive yourself. Do you honestly believe that you could clean up your life good enough to justify your approaching Jesus? If you do, you have much to learn about the Perfection of God. If you lived a hundred lifetimes, you could never become pure enough to justify the presence of God based on your merit. In fact, the longer you live, the further you move away from that "pure" condition. This is the nature of our fallen state.

Know that Jesus approaches YOU and He wants you to come as you are!

Jesus has already performed the redeeming act of giving up His life by shedding His blood so that the whole world MIGHT be saved. Why did I say "MIGHT?" Because even though our Almighty God has bought for

So get over it, you ain’t ever gonna get pure enough to approach Jesus on your merit. Jesus has already approached you. Why do you think you are reading all this? Just accept Jesus on faith and let Him in your life as you are.

The second reason as I see it that folks want to keep their distance from God is this: Fear of having to give up ones licentious lifestyle. I would no longer be able to bla bla bla. Fill in the blas with your own sins. I would have to clean up my language. I would have to go to church on Sundays. I would have to be a "Goody Twoshoes." These thoughts wreak a silent horror within us that invariably keeps us from coming up too rapidly on the truth. Even the fear that we may not succeed at ridding ourselves of these evils holds us back. Once again, our false teachings and misconceptions succeed at holding us back.

The reality of the matter is that once we truly understand what Jesus sacrificed for us, our heart goes 100% out to Him. We could never do enough for Him. And in fact, we don’t have to. Our acceptance of Jesus Christ as our savior brings with it His Holy Spirit to live within us. It is His Holy Spirit living within us that performs these good works from this point out. Our bodies do these good works powered by His Holy Spirit living within us. Yes, we do still continue to sin, but now we KNOW that it is an offense to Jesus and we actually DO curb our behaviour somewhat but the bulk is merely a function of His Holy Spirit living within us. What a joy!!! How could I ever have waited so long to experience this much joy? Why didn’t I accept Jesus sooner in my life? Well, hindsight is always 20/20. Have faith in Jesus. Just DO it! Be sincere and accept Him with all your heart, soul and mind.

The third reason as I see it that folks want to keep their distance from God is this: Fear of criticism. How could my life come to this? How could I come to possibly even consider becoming one of those who my friends and I have criticized and made fun of for most of my life? I will have to eat crow. I will be embarrassed.

Well, let me think about this. I could either accept Jesus as My God and my savior and eat crow with my friends, or I can reject Jesus as my God and savior and be safe with my friends. Thinking...................

I would save embarrassment with my friends. That is good. Is also immediate. I will have plenty of time to accept Jesus as my God and my savior later. That way I could do both, have my cake and eat it too. But what if I die unexpectedly? I would not get into heaven. Hmmm. Is it better for me to assure my place in heaven for all eternity now and just deal with my friends criticism? Duh,,, no brainer. I will accept Jesus as my God and Savior now. If my friends were smart, they would too. Seems I have an awful lot of new friends now too :) And I DO sleep better at night. Smart choice. Thank you Jesus!!!

Hmmm, can I be saved after I die? Good question. Once again, false teachings and misconceptions. The answer is emphatically, No! We must choose Jesus while we are still living although satan would much rather have you think otherwise so that you may procrastinate accepting Him. Click here to find out more.     □