he God of the Bible encourages us to draw near to Him. One of His favorite things is to hear from His children. When you look at how He made the way for us to come to Him through His Son, Jesus, you can see how important it is that we make a sincere effort to do so. Last Sunday at Hillside, we looked at Hebrews chapter ten in our messages. The writer encourages us to draw near to Him with confidence because of what Jesus has done by dying for us and opening the way.

He also encourages us to draw near with a conscience that we have cleansed and bodies that have been washed clean. God is looking for closeness with those that have chosen to obey His Son. In other words, only Christians can really approach God. Jesus made it clear that He was the "Way, Truth, and Life". Those in Him have direct access to the Father through the high priest, Jesus Christ, the Hebrew writer mentions. Those not in Christ do not have this path to God. They may earnestly seek God but simply don't have the means to achieve their goal. This biblical truth is the basis for honest evangelism. Christians owe it to their God and their world to spread this "Good News". Their just isn't any other way except Jesus.

In seeking to fully obey we must also learn to make meeting together a priority in our lives. Not meeting together does not accomplish God's goals for His flock. Another behavior that could be a change for some is "considering how to incite one another to love and good works". God, after drawing us near, sends us out to do something. We are to encourage each other to love and good works. It is our responsibility as God's flock to look beyond our own self interests and stir up those in our family and culture to this command. You'll know God's people by what they encourage.