- Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
How close can you get to God? There is no answer to that. The more you draw close to Him, the nearer to Him you will be. What does it mean? It means that your parents are not the standard for you, your pastors, your teachers.
It happens frequently that young people are closer to God than old people. It is not because God prefers young people, but because they draw nigher to God. And when they get older, they get busy. James works in both cases. If you don’t draw nigh to God, you would not get nearer to Him.
No one should be a standard for you. You can be nearer to God than anyone else. This is not because you have better character than other people, it is not because God loves you better than other people, it has nothing to do with favoritism. It is just a principle from James 4:8.
This is why John was the closest to Jesus. Jesus does not put the barriers.