Monday, May 18, 2015

Plain and Simple

Do you ever just get in one of those funks where you just don't want to spend time in God's Word? Times where sleep, zoning out in front of the TV or your phone, or whatever else just seems more  appealing and requires a lot less effort? This place is frustrating! You know you need to be God's Word and spending time with Him. You know you are sorely missing intimacy with God. You know you are sorely missing God's best for you. You know, You know, You know!!!! But....you feel stuck and lazy, like you can't get out of the rut you are so deeply in.  You feel so guilty and condemned. You feel just yuck and wonder why God would still want to hear from you. You think how can I make it better, so I don't feel so far away, so disconnected from God. It is so overwhelming to know how far backwards you have gone, and to feel so defeated that you can't 
even begin to push yourself forward back to where you need to be with God. It's just easier to stay in your rut, you think. Hmm, but is it really easier?  Is that self-condemning weight a piece of cake to shoulder? Is the disconnect from God so simple to hold on to? Does the empty ache for intimacy with God just roll off your back? The answer to all that is a big fat NO! How then do we reconcile what we know we need, time with God in His Word, and fufilling that need without all the outrageous expectations we have of ourselves?  We think if I do this I must be perfect at it.  This unachieveable goal defeats us before we even begin, and it's so much easier not to try and to zone out with the TV or phone when our quiet time of day arrives.  So awful that we do this do ourselves because it feeds right into the enemy's plan to separate us from our God.  The only place we can begin again is where we are right at this moment. We don't have to be perfect before we come to God.  We have to come seeking Him just as we are, and He gladly takes us into His love, warts and all.  He doesn't require perfect because Jesus makes us right and true in His sight. He just wants His child to come stay awhile in His presence soaking in all of Him, love, mercy, grace, compassion, wisdom, and on and on and on.  You see, He just wants you plain and simple. Begin there and He will guide you the rest of the way in His ever-abiding love.