Once a person believes that God is distant, striving becomes inevitable. Not because they are rebellious, but because they are sincere. They want to be close. They want to be right. They want to restore what they believe has been lost. Effort, in that sense, is not the problem. It is the starting point that creates the struggle.
If someone begins from the assumption of distance, then their entire spiritual life becomes an attempt to close that gap. But if the starting point is union, then everything changes. Jesus does not describe a process of becoming connected. He speaks from the reality of an already established connection. "In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you" (John 14:20). That is not a future promise to achieve. It is a reality to awaken to.
This shifts the entire framework. A branch does not strive to become part of the vine. It lives from the life already flowing through it. When Jesus says, "I am the vine, you are the branches," He is not inviting an attachment. He is revealing His identity. The branch does not work to stay connected. It abides because it already is.
In the same way, the believer is not working toward union with God, but living from it. This is why the language of the New Testament consistently speaks in terms of participation, inclusion, and identity, rather than distance and effort. The Christian life is not about becoming one with God. It is about discovering that you already are.
When this becomes real, the pressure to perform begins to fall away. The focus is no longer on becoming something, but in recognizing what has already been given. You are not chasing freedom. You are living in it. And from that place, transformation becomes the natural outcome of a relationship, rather than the result of striving.