So your faith feels dry. You have no desire to read the bible. And when you do, you read a paragraph and forget what you’ve read, so you read it again–and forget it again. The words on the page just feel lifeless. You find no inspiration in them.
You have no desire to go to church. The effort to get up, get ready, drive to church, and sit for an hour listening to mundane platitudes with a group of people you don’t even know, it just feels pointless.
God doesn’t feel personal, He doesn’t even feel present.
Where is God anyway?
You ask yourself, “Why can’t I find Him?”
Do you want to know why? Do you really want to find Him? Or are you avoiding Him intentionally.
If you’re avoiding Him intentionally then stop reading now.
But if you genuinely want to find Him, if you truly desire His presence, if you really want to get to know Him, there’s an answer. God says to you and God says to me:
“…you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul.” Deuteronomy 4:29
Have you done that? Have you tried that? Have you sought after God with everything you have? Have you sought after God with all your heart and all your soul?
If you haven’t, then is it any wonder why you don’t feel His presence? Purpose in your heart to seek after Him with everything you have. Start now. Find every scrap of available time to devote to it. Use every bit of available energy to focus on it.
Seek after Him with all your heart, and with all your soul–and see if you don’t find Him.
If you made that decision, to seek after Him with everything you have, you might want to consider some ways to help you draw closer: 7 Ways to Draw Closer to Christ
[Image via Sapphire Dream Photography – Creative Commons]
I really liked reading this, that I wanna have clear. There’s just one catch for me. How does one seek after God with all your heart and all your soul? I am a believer, but I find it really hard to use the Bible as a manual in some ways. It might be telling us what to do, but it doesn’t specify how to do it. How does one even know if one’s whole heart is devoted to seeking God? You can be tricking yourself into thinking so, while there are still slips here and there.
I might just sound radically pessimisitic writing this, but it feels at least a little bit valid.
That’s such a great question Hannah! How can we know if we’re following Jesus with everything we have?
Fortunately Jesus gives us the answer in John 14. He says to his disciples and to you and to me, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” And then he says it again! “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me.” And then he says it again yet another way, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word . . .” And then he expresses the same idea in the negative — Jesus says, “Whoever does not love me does not keep my words.”
So I think it’s like some moms I know who love their kids and it’s so obvious how great their love is. They do everything they can to help their kids grow up into virtuous human beings. In contrast, I know moms and dads who will tell you they love their kids, but they haven’t even spoken to them in more than a year. So yeah, you can say anything, but it’s what you do that provides evidence of your love for someone.
Another way to look at it is a romantic relationship. When a man loves a woman, he might keep a list of all her preferences and interests and what she’s enthusiastic about in life. And then out of love for his wife, that man might do everything he can to follow everything on that list.
You mentioned slips here and there, and because we’re human we’ll always have those. Also, what it looks like to love Jesus is different for everybody. We’re not all going to become Mother Teresas. Most of us haven’t received the same measure of grace that she did. But God will only hold us accountable for the amount of grace given to each person.
Thank you for asking such a great question! I hope my reply was helpful.
Absolutely ridiculous that the author would tell ANYONE to stop reading now. Whether intentional or not, your responsibility should be to bring everyone to God. I swear some people just talk, or in this case write, to toot their own horns. Sometimes it’s okay to just shut up, which is what you should’ve done instead of writing this crap. Have you any idea how many people you turned off who might’ve have given their lives to Christ had you acted like a Christian and not like a lunatic?
I love the title of this blog post Kurt 🙂
This blog post reminded me of something that happened to me recently in ministry. I have a friend of mine who has been serving alongside with me for years. It’s been exposed recently that he’s been having multiple affairs over the last three years.
Of course I was shocked when I found out the news. It made me think how he could be in ministry and be having these affairs at the same time. I wonder if he was avoiding God.
I am so sad to hear that Peter. I think you might be right though. It may be that some can get into such a ministry groove that they sort of go on autopilot. They can appear to be following Christ without actually seeking him with everything they have.
I pray our Father will protect us from such a fall. And I pray for the healing of your friend, his family, and anyone who was hurt by his actions.