But Now

Paul spends a whole verse making sure the Ephesians remember exactly how far away they used to be: separate, excluded, foreigners, without hope, without God (Ephesians 2:12). He doesn't rush past it. He wants them to feel the distance before he tells them what closed it.

Then comes one of the great turns in Scripture: "But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ" (Ephesians 2:13). Notice the direction of that sentence. Paul doesn't say you finally found your way near. He says you were brought near.

That distinction matters more than it might seem. If you found your own way near to God, you'd have something to point to, some effort, some cleverness, some spiritual instinct that got you there. But Paul says Jesus did the bringing. You didn't close the distance. He did.

This matters for the moments you feel far from God right now, whatever the reason. A season of distraction. A habit you can't shake. A prayer life that's gone quiet. Feeling far doesn't mean you are far, because nearness was never something you were responsible for creating in the first place. It was given to you at the cross, and it doesn't come and go with your consistency.

Think about the relationships in your life. The ones that feel closest usually aren't the ones you engineered through effort alone. Somebody moved toward you first. Somebody kept showing up. That's a small picture of what Jesus did on a much larger scale: moving toward people who had no way of closing the distance themselves.

Today, if you feel far, let "but now" interrupt that feeling. You who were far away have been brought near. Not someday. Already.