In a staff meeting last week my boss said something that really
stood out to me. As I was processing the depth of the words in this song, his
words came back to me. He said with his arms stretched out wide, “It’s a really
sad thing when people come to a place in their life where they’re okay with
keeping God at arm’s length.” Then he brought his arms in close and crossed
them over his chest and said, “Instead of embracing God to the fullest.”

I couldn’t find any more truth to that statement, so simple,
but so very true. So many of us have come to a place where we are okay with
living life in the gray. The difference
between embracing the world and embracing God to the fullest extent is as
different as black and white. When you are embracing all that the world has
to offer, you are rejecting all that God has to offer. There is no way that you
can have both when you are so insistent on embracing one. But then there is
this area of gray, where you are standing in the middle with a grasp on both.
You don’t want to let go of all that the world has to offer, there is just too
many thing you haven’t done yet, too many things you haven’t gotten to
experience, you’re not sure if you want to give that up just yet. Little do you
know that your reluctance to let go of those little things, is keeping you at
arm’s length from embracing God.  The
reason that being in a place where you are okay with keeping God at an arm’s
length from you is so sad, is because you have no idea what you’re missing. You
think that you are embracing and experiencing all that God has to offer you,
after all you’re still holding on to Him. You’re not doing things that are at
the top of the naughty list, you’re just experimenting with things that are on
the questionable list. It can’t be that bad, you’re still grasping onto God, so
naturally you think you’ll still experiencing Him.

I don’t doubt that one bit, I am sure that you can
experience God at arm’s length. But in that case, you might as well be a
spectator. You have the ability to see God move in the lives around you, and
you can feel His presence. But because you are keeping a distance between you
and Him you can’t truly experience it for yourself. You may be able to think
back to a time right now where you can say, “Hey, I experienced God here. He
was just as real as ever.” But what if I told you there’s more than that? When
you hold God at an arm’s length, sometimes He lets you get a taste of just how
good He really is. But if you’re not
willing to get your life out of the gray, you will never fully experience what
it means to truly experience God.

The enemy wants to keep you living in the gray. If he can
keep you here, he knows he has you in the most dangerous spot. You think that
you are embracing all that God has for you, but you are barely getting your
feet wet. Yet, at the same time you are enticed by everything that the world
has to offer. When you are in this place, this gray area, you are no threat to
the enemy. As long as you stay here, you won’t be able to radically change the
world, because you aren’t even sure of all that God has to offer you. The more
that you try to stay in this place, the more you will actually find yourself
falling. It’s only so long that you can balance in the middle before your gray
slowly fades to black. It happens in such a subtle way that you don’t even
realize it until God has become much more than an arm’s length away from you. It’s
when you let go of your grasp on this world, and fully embrace all that God has
to offer that your life will be drastically different. You haven’t experienced all of God, until you’ve removed the barrier
that keeps you distant from Him.

I challenge you to get out of the gray. I promise you if you
allow God to come in close, you won’t regret it one bit. What God has to offer
you in this life is far better than you can find anywhere else. Whatever your
barrier is that is keeping you at arm’s length from God, isn’t worth what you’re
missing.