Ebb and Flow

I have a theory that, as believers, we go through an ebb and flow in our relationship with God. I also think this ebb and flow is specific to each person. Some of us are closer to God when everything seems right in the world, we are on top of everything, and nothing seems to be able to get us down. That is when we worship the loudest, pray the most, and find ourselves in the Word the most.

Then there are those of us who move closer when the going gets tough. When everything goes wrong, our car breaks down, our finances seem to be coming up short, the whole world becomes a scary place and sends us running back under the cover of our Father. We seek Him out to make sense of the world and our problems. We read the Word trying to find solutions and we pray constantly, asking for answers and help and giving thanks when we feel the need to remember that things aren't so bad.

While being closer to God is good, why don't we stay close all the time? When we are at our most thankful and also when we are at the bottom of the pit and need a hand? Why do we struggle to see God in the good? Or struggle to seek Him in the dark?

Foolishness to the Perishing

This past Sunday, a verse was mentioned in the morning message. One that wasn't stopped upon and looked into, but read in a group of passages. Upon reading it, this verse spoke truth into my eyes and my mind like it hadn't before. It struck a chord with me.

1 Corinthians 1:18 "For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God."

I love when a verse will jump off of the page and, even if you've read that very verse before (possibly multiple times) takes on a meaning that you had never seen before. Such is the case with this verse. The books of Corinthians are some of my favorites and I've read through these very words multiple times. Now my eyes have been opened to the meaning. This may very well happen because we have not had the experiences necessary to see the wisdom in a verse just yet.

As is common in the world today, not everyone is a believer in Christ. Not everyone wants God and the message that comes with Him. They see Christianity as a set of rules and something that controls their life. They can't understand why anyone would want to give up what freedom they have to follow a book. This is especially true for the younger generation. Teenagers and college students such as myself.

People who are "being saved" however, see the bible and all that comes with Christianity as freedom! God gave us His son to be free from Hell. We are freed from sin. We see what we have been given in the Bible as "the power of God." and love it all the more.

I believe this explains why when I try to have a conversation with unsaved friends about my beliefs or why I won't do something because it clashes with my beliefs, these unsaved people will get that blank look on their face and just truly not understand. Or one of my favorites, try to explain that you only live once (YOLO!) and you should live it to the fullest. To saved people, following Christ is living life to the fullest. I would rather walk through those pearly gates one day and hear God say "Well done, my good and faithful servant." Rather than think back and ponder, "Was all of that really worth it?".

Revelations 1

I believe that one can sense when they are lacking spiritually. I have mistakenly called it spiritually dead, its more of spiritually starved. This is something I've been experiencing lately, now that I am unable to attend church on Wednesday nights due to work. I have still gone on most Sundays but it just isn't the same. (Not to mention other factors that have distanced me from both the church and in some ways, God as well.) This was the first time I had been to church on a Wednesday since the fourth of July. The excitement I felt all day about going was matched only by the feeling I had afterwards of being full. It was similar to how you feel after a good meal. Not stuffed, as though you could burst, but full and satisfied.

I also had some revelations. I'm not throwing scripture out just yet, this is raw and I'll most likely touch on these in some later writings. First is that, we are truly, truly supposed to focus on pleasing God and looking after His attention and giving Him ours. Not concerning ourselves with how others see us or how they feel about us. That doesn't matter, and shouldn't matter to us. The only thing that matters is what God will say of us. Hopefully it is "Well done, my good and faithful servant."

The second thing is that you can't rely on people. People will fail you and disappoint you more times in your life than you will ever be able to count. And as humans, it seems in our nature to want to rely on each other, to depend on people for something. We want to trust each other. But this just leads to broken trust and broken hearts. God is the only one who will never let us down, and is always there no matter what. He is who we should turn to when things go wrong, when things are going right, and when things are just moving along. We shouldn't call up some person and demand they fix things or give us the answers or ask that they do the praying for us. We should step up to the plate, look to Heaven and have that relationship with God ourselves.

The last thing is, we cannot distance ourselves from THE church or God. Or both! You wither up spiritually and you begin to feel fatigued. It affects your every day and every aspect of who you are, especially when you have dived so far into His Word and His promises and doing His work and ministering. You will feel a not only a spiritual difference, but also a physical and an emotional difference.