Have you ever heard of the Proximity Principle? According to the Neilsen Norman Group the Proximity Principle states that:
“items close together are likely to be perceived as part of the same group — sharing similar functionality or traits.”
Now I do not want to take a man-made psychological principle and apply it to our Christian life. I’d rather like to use scripture as our launching point but found it helpful to share with you the common found idea quoted above.
Context
There is a similar principle found in scripture that I would like to make the focus of this post. Before I share with you the text I want to give some context. The psalmist is coming to a close of his psalm as he expresses: “my flesh and my heart fail.” I liken it to all the times I start my day thinking “I can do it!” but shortly after, very shortly after, my flesh and heart fail me and I end up falling short, once again, of God’s glory. But in spite of his heart and flesh failing him he powerfully proclaims: “But God is the rock of my heart and my portion forever.” Even though his heart and flesh fail him constantly he knows that is not his foundation. His foundation, his “rock”, is God.
Now where does this Proximity Principle come into play? Interestingly enough it comes right after the above proclamation. The psalmist says:
“For, behold, those who are far from You will perish; You have destroyed everyone who is unfaithful to You. But as for me, the nearness of God is my good; I have set Lord Yahweh as my refuge, That I may recount all Your works.”
Psalm 73:27-28 (LSB)
Proximity Principle
We all sin. We all fall short. We, hopefully, understand that. If we were each judged on the basis of our own works we all deserve eternal damnation in hell. The psalmist knows this as well and rather reveals the real principle by which God judges: Proximity. I bolded the two options and put in red the consequences of each option. You can clearly see that those who are far from God will perish whereas those near to God will have Him as a refuge for their own good.
You see, the psalmist is giving up on salvation by works by admitting that his heart and flesh fail him and throwing himself on God as His savior. We can easily get lost in the idea that God is in the business of making morally right beings. We hear texts like: “follow after righteousness, godliness, etc.” and think that the Christian faith is all about right living. That is simply not true. Right living is an effect. The cause? Proximity.
Nearness to God in the Gospel
The further you get away from the sun the colder you get. The closer you get to the sun the hotter you get. Rocket science. This is exactly what I am getting after here. God is holy, like the sun. The closer you get to Him the more holy you become and therefore fulfilling God’s clear command: “Be ye holy; for I am holy.” However, the farther you get away from God (by sinning, by neglecting study, prayer, local church, etc.) you will find yourself becoming less like God, less holy.
God gave that command back in the Old Testament fully aware that men were incapable of obeying it. But we know that the law was given to magnify man’s-kind depravity (Gal 3:23-24). We could never possibly become holy like our God because we were shut off from ever having a relationship with Him. (Rom 1:32) And a relationship with the holy God is NECESSARY to become holy. Therefore what is the solution? The Gospel! “Righteousness of God without the law” (Rom 3:21) If not by the law then by what? Read this one carefully: “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom 5:1). Problem solved. Relationship restored. Proximity achieved. Now what’s left to do after you believe? “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him” (Col 2:6). You received him by faith and therefore entered into a relationship with God. Therefore to continue in this walk you do NOT do so by works. You do so by faith and building your relationship (Proximity) to God. I pray this one made sense to you all.