Thursday, October 2

Long-Distance Relationships

I was never good at long-distance relationships. They just didn’t work for me. I like to know that I’m loved, AND I LIKE TO SEE AND EXPERIENCE IT… from close up. Well, it’s no different with God (and that shouldn’t surprise us… we’ve been created in His image). One of the first things that new Christ followers need to learn is that pursuing God is the key to success in life. It seems so generic… so basic, doesn’t it? But our pursuit of God… developing an intimate relationship with Him… shows how much we depend on Him. And the truth is, we need Him more than the air we breathe.

Sometimes, when things are going wacky in our lives, it might be nothing more than God’s way of getting our attention and saying to us, “Hey, don’t forget about Me.” Not because He’s capricious… but sometimes it seems He has “removed Himself from our situation,” and it reminds us of how much we need Him. At times, we respond correctly: “Lord, You’re right. I’m sorry I have been neglecting our relationship. Please forgive me… show me how to get through this tough time.” But, if we’re honest, there are other times where we just keep going our own way… and, for all intents and purposes, we try to play God. We try to control the outcome of our circumstances or relationships… we allow our feelings to determine our actions… all the while failing to see that distance from God always equals disaster in our lives.

God desires intimacy with us… through His Word, through prayer, through worship. And we won’t experience true joy or peace without that intimacy. We’ve been created for oneness with Him… and when we don’t pursue Him, our lives begin to unravel. Like an unraveling string on our garments, we pull on it (trying to fix it ourselves) and cause more damage. Cut the string… fix the seam! That’s what we have to do – repent and immediately begin to close the gap between us and God…

And you know what? He readily welcomes us back…

…because He’s not into long-distance relationships. ;-)


1 comment:

Doug Holden said...

Amen, brother! God has been hitting me hard on this one starting two weeks ago. Darn that sin nature that pulls us from God and makes us think life can be lived with our own resources. Your blog post honestly expresses my own thoughts exactly. Thankfully, God DOES welcome us after a long absense, and I've been blessed with some sweet times of fellowship with Him recently.

Always look forward to your posts.