I find that quite often, in my own life, and in the lives of my close friends, we get caught up in trying to be good enough and forgetting the simplest truth: God accepts us, no matter what condition we're in. The thing is, He is a gentleman. He will not knock down the walls of your heart and come barging in. He will not scream into your ears until you hear Him. He will not demand you to be perfect for Him. We need to listen to Him. We must accept Him. We have to invite Him in, and freely give our ears and our hearts. Only then, will we be able to hear His still, small voice. There is another thing we must understand: God is waiting for us to make that decision. He is ready to come to us--the moment we ask Him to. He speaks truth to us.

Over the last couple of weeks, He has been speaking so loudly in my life. Through sermons, friends, and on my own, He has been communicating the importance of knowing Him. It is not enough to remember Him--it is not even enough to just listen to Him. It is acting on His words that brings change into our lives. He can tell us something all day long, but if we do nothing about it, it will not affect our lives. My best friend put it this way: if you were to pass someone on the street each day, and occasionally make small talk, but never sit down and get to know that person, never ask their feelings or tell them your own, and someone asked them if you were their best friend, what would they say? Their answer would, obviously, be no. We cannot do the same thing to God and expect Him to be our best friend. Now, let's say that you talk to someone all of the time, and you always say that they are your best friend, but when it comes down to it, you never, ever, spend time with them. You never hang out, talk on a deep level, or spend a moment of one-on-one time with them. Are they really your best friend? Do you really care about them, the way that you claim to? The answer is, inevitably, no. How can we expect God to claim us if our entire relationship with Him is only surface-level?

We cannot hear something from God, ignore it, and expect a miracle to happen. That is insanity. We cannot claim to have an amazing relationship with Him, while not spending any time with Him. In order to know someone, in order to have a relationship, to care about someone, we must spend time with them. I must put something into it, to get something out of it. I know this from personal experience. I have had so many times in my life when I claimed to have this wonderful relationship with Jesus Christ, but I never prayed or read my bible. In reality, I couldn't have been more separated from Him. But, when I dig into His word, ask Him questions, listen to Him, and tell Him what's on my heart, I know Him, and it changes me. When I let Him touch me, He pulls me up and holds my hand. I do not believe that will ever change--and I do not believe that's just for me. It is not only for someone of a specific denomination, church background, family background, friend group, work place, or whatever category you could think of--this grace, this relationship, this pure, soul-saving, life-changing love is for everyone. The only thing required of us is to allow ourselves to hear the voice of God, accept it, and then do what He tells us to do. All He wants is our hearts. Our hearts are where our actions come from. When He changes our hearts, He changes our lives.