{I know it’s a very blunt and personal question, but it’s one worth giving some serious thought.}
Are you are actively engaged with our Great, Big God? Participating more? Challenged more? Growing more? Digging more? Investing more? Learning more? Loving more? Praying for more?
I want you to know right off the bat that I’m asking because I care, and because this stuff matters. I’ve been hearing some talk lately that has stuck a cord with me, and I have to talk about it.
Really, friend. We should talk about it.
But first, I want you to hear what I’ve been hearing and see if any of this resonates with you:
“I was closest with God in college, and that was a long time ago. I’ll never have that kind of relationship with Him again.”
“I hear about ‘the power and grace of God’ but I’m not experiencing it. Maybe I’m doing something wrong. I don’t know. I guess this is as good as it gets.”
“I see other people that seem to have an authentic relationship with the Lord, but I just can’t seem get there.”
Man-o-man! This kind of talk breaks my heart.
In our spiritual lives (actually in every part of our lives) we go through ups and downs. Peaks and valley. Highs and lows. We all do. That’s normal. But trouble comes when we’re in a dry spell, and we get stuck. We get stagnant in the valley.
Then all of a sudden we start questioning this place we’re in. Is this my new normal? Maybe what I had before was just a phase, and this is it. Slowly desire wanes. Time moves on. We grow a little numb. We lose our fight for more, and we set up camp in this new, normal, sub par existence with God.
Does any of this sound familiar to you?
Have you, too, become content with less?
I’ve been there, and I know it feels rotten.
I know what it feels like to blow dust off my Bible that must have gotten lost under the bed last week {last month, last year}. I know the excuses I’ve made and the pep talks I’ve given myself about this spiritual slump I was in. I know the emptiness, the frustration, the disappointment, the confusion, the guilt and the eventual resignation that can happen in a slump.
I’ve lived there. We don’t like to talk about these places. We like to pretend that everything is fine. But let’s you and I be honest today. This place you’re in is not as good as it gets. It’s just not. You were made for more than this.
Did you hear what I just said?
You were made for more than this. Immeasurably more. God has given you a heart to know Him – to find Him and be graciously found by Him. He’s not hiding, even if it feels like He is.
Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. Matthew 7:7-8
Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. James 4:8
Here’s one thing about God that you can count on: HE is after your heart. If you’re reading this, He’s after you. But He will never force Himself upon you. He only and always woos. The responsibility of receiving and responding lies with you.
We’ve all experienced the valley, but the valley isn’t home to us. God’s got more for you. He’s got so much more for you just around the next bend.
It’s time to pick up camp and move on.
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