Relationships are difficult. Challenging. They take effort. To maintain the “good” in any relationship takes a bit of work. Our relationship with the Lord is no different, except the effort part is one-sided — it is all on us. He is always there — waiting for us to come to him.
So, what happens when we slip or fall away? What is it that drives us apart, and whenever it is we are ready to reconnect, what does that look like? How do we correct our track? Can it be corrected?
More importantly, will God accept us back?
Salvation Vs. Sanctification
Let me stress here, what we are talking about is our sanctification — how we live our lives every day. Our salvation is based entirely on the finished work of Jesus Christ. His substitutionary atonement for our sins. Salvation is forever — through God’s grace. Grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.
Salvation is given to us when we accept Christ’s sacrifice for our sins — when the guilt that has separated us from God is gone. That is the moment that we have a new relationship with Jesus Christ and his Holy Spirit takes up residence in our hearts. That is the moment that the door is opened for a new relationship with the Father.
That moment is when the process of sanctification begins. And it is indeed a process. Sometimes it is a very slow growth. From that moment forward, that is when we are called to live our lives by faith:
For by grace you have been saved, through faith. And this not by your own doing; it is the gift of God (Ephesians 2:8).
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me (Galatians 2:20).
For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed — a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith” (Romans 1:17).
For we walk by faith, not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7).
Salvation is one and done. Sanctification, on the other hand, is an ongoing process. We don’t simply become perfect people because we have decided to follow Christ. Our sinful nature remains.
The call of the world doesn’t go away, and we continue to do battle with what is in the world, “For everything in the world — the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life — comes not from the Father but from the world” (1 John 2:16).
It’s not like Jesus didn’t warn us. When he explained to his disciples the parable of the sower, which he had just finished teaching, he told them this parable about seed falling among thorns — “The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful” (Matthew 13:22).
Then, immediately following that, Jesus told another parable about a man who planted good seed in his field, “…but while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared” (Matthew 13:24-26).
The Weeds of Life That Interfere
What are the weeds of life that all too often we allow to interfere with our relationship with God?
Pride. Worry. Riches. Pleasures.
Or to borrow from the Apostle John — our lusts for the things of this world get us into all kinds of trouble that can drive a wedge between us and the Lord. At the very least, they cause us to divert our attention away from our most valuable relationship that requires attention and effort to remain solid and trustworthy.
One thing I learned from my time in the Navy is that so much as one-half of a degree off course at the start of a journey, if not corrected, will result in an ever-widening gap between us and our destination.
What seems like a small gap at the start of the journey results in missing the mark entirely. Our relationship with the Lord is not much different. What seems like a small, even meaningless break to start, doesn’t take long to turn into a chasm.
It starts slowly. We get so busy wrapped up in pursuing the pleasures and riches of this world, that we begin to give up time with the Lord. We get so busy making a living, we forget about making a life.
Our pursuit of riches, and what we think are the pleasures those riches can give us, create a gap that widens over time. Then the weed of worry creeps in and invades our world. When you’re preoccupied with the problems and pressures of daily life, it’s hard to make time for God.
When we are pursuing more and more money to pay for more and more of the “stuff” we don’t need, we create unnecessary debt in the process and the snowball grows bigger and bigger. The wedge between us and the Lord grows wider.
Before long, God has taken a back seat to our pursuit of things of this world. Oh, we didn’t mean for it to happen, but it grows out of its own momentum. Like the proverbial frog in the pot of boiling water. The pot starts off comfortable, but slowly warms and we don’t even notice it. Soon enough the water is boiling and kills us — and we never even realized it.
One thing about weeds — they grow ever larger on their own. They are a sure sign that we have been neglecting our garden. Weeds in our garden mean that we have not been paying attention to it. Our spiritual lives are no different.
Then, one day we wake up and take a good hard look and see that the weeds have taken over our spiritual garden, and we didn’t even realize that it had happened. We have no true relationship with God. Worry has replaced trust. Pleasures have replaced following God’s will. Our pursuit of riches has stolen the one thing that can never be replaced — our time.
Now what?
We Are the Prodigal Son
The story of the Prodigal Son is perhaps the best-known parable of Jesus, found in Luke 15:11-32. It tells the story of a man with two sons. The youngest of the two asks his father for his share of the inheritance — now.
The father gives it to him — and the son squanders it, recklessly living a life of indulgence. With nothing left, he is forced to work as a hired hand for a pig farmer — and due to a severe famine in the land, finds himself envying the pigs and wishes he could have their food.
He realizes his father’s hired hands have it far better and decides to return to his father, beg forgiveness, and ask for nothing more than to be one of his servants.
Upon his return home, he finds his father waiting for him. He is welcomed with open, loving arms — his father overwhelmed with joy at the son’s return and holds a feast in his honor.
We shall leave the reaction of the older brother for another discussion. However, what many do not realize is, in the Bible, the story of the Prodigal Son, follows immediately after the parables of the Lost Sheep and of the Lost Coin.
The three are contained in a section of Luke’s gospel dedicated to the lost — and were told by Jesus in response to the complaint of the Pharisees, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them” (Luke 15:2).
The stories are told to deliver a strong and purposeful message — our heavenly Father loves lost sinners and his love restores them to a right relationship with God. Heaven is filled with lost sinners, prodigal sons, who have come home.
The Importance of Reconnecting with God
Jesus hung out with the lost because he knew they would see their need and respond, flooding heaven with joy. The question we must each ask ourselves is have we lost our way?
Have we allowed a wedge to be driven between us and God? Have we allowed the weeds to take over our garden because we chose to tend to other, far less important things?
If we have, the answer then is simple: return to your own roots. Not easy, perhaps, but simple, nonetheless. Make him first in your life once again. Give him your time. Give him your heart.
Your whole heart. Give him your love — and your time. You already know the things of this world will let you down and lead only to worry, heartache, and disappointment.
Return to your first love. Return to Jesus Christ. We need only to turn our hearts once again toward heaven, where the Father awaits our return. He’s watching and waiting for us. He is there and waiting with open, loving arms. We need only to come back home.
For further reading:
Why Do We Forget That God Can Be Our Portion?
Can We Really Run Away from God?
When We Go to God Last Instead of First with Our Hearts
How Is God a God of Second Chances?
Can We Identify with Either the Prodigal Son or His Brother?
Photo Credit: ©iStock/Getty Images Plus/Anastasiia Stiahailo
