I’ve been living this surrendered life for a little over 10 years now and so have many in my community. One thing about a long lasting covenant relationship of any kind, whether it’s romantic, platonic or a love relationship with Jesus, is that that relationship is susceptible to…hmmm, well, how can I put this? Let’s just say it. Boredom. It’s typical in any relationship to start off “on fire”. There’s passion, excitement, and just this constant eagerness to be around that person. I’ve experienced those emotions in all of the aforementioned types of relationships. And just as the commencement can be equivalent to that of a microwave, becoming instantly hot, as time goes on that heat can fizzle out to be nothing more than burning embers. If that!
When I first started walking with Christ my days were filled with constant prayer, reading and memorizing His word and continued fellowship with His children. Often as 20-year-olds, our Friday and Saturday nights were spent having Bible Study and prayer. We just could not get enough of Him and our thirst was unquenchable. I was convicted by the slightest thing. I now realize it’s because I was soaked in His presence and as a result was more sensitive to His voice and His heart. When spending time with anyone we take on their habits, their view points, their heart. Even more so with Yeshua. But in order to know someone intimately and in their entirety, that time spent is a necessity. It’s so easy to become complacent as this walk stretches out before us. We were once digesting chapters of Bible verses daily and now we are trying to sustain our spirituality from devotionals (speaking to myself first and foremost). There are so many different seasons in life, many of which can cause us to lose faith in Him. Many of which can distract us from Him and our true purpose.
One of the consequences of not being intentional about meeting with Christ in that place of intimacy is that our hearts slowly become desensitized to the things of God. The world around us is constantly sending us messages which are anti-kingdom. Just yesterday I was watching a t.v show I consider to be pretty PG and yet the writers found it necessary to have the young teenage character lose her virginity to a guy she barely knew and was not in a relationship with. Aside from my personal conviction about sex before marriage, I was more so grieved about the lackadaisical attitude the character’s had about this life changing decision she was making. “Casual sex is the norm and sex is not to be considered a precious event” is what the media wants us to believe.
Sadly, I see this same lackadaisical attitude in the hearts of believers.
Our hearts are no longer broken by the things God’s heart is broken by. We have gotten comfortable and become like the world. But our views didn’t change overnight. No, because then we would have seen it coming. Instead, it was a slow fade…black and white slowly shifted into gray. They hit us with the bait and switch and we didn’t even see it coming.
This past spring I attended a good friend’s graduation ceremony. She graduated from a Jesuit college and the Dean of the school spoke and shared that they believed that people of many different faiths were all considered children of God. A friend I was sitting with was shocked that the school was not teaching that Christ was the only way. My response was, “Even the elect will be deceived if not for the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 24:24). The world we live in is full of false messages and misleading ideas. God’s word and His Holy Spirit are the only accurate GPS’ we have that can help us navigate our way to the finish line of life. But in order to use any GPS, we must first activate it by turning it on. Yes we are saved. Yes we know a little bit of Christ. Yes we are committed, transformed and made new. But have we allowed complacency to sneak into our lives? How much have we compromised? Is our heart broken by the things of God? Do we still become convicted or are we desensitized? Do we defend our sin and justify it? If so then we are in danger of becoming ineffective for His kingdom if we are not so already.
How can we free others if we are not walking in the freedom Christ suffered and died for?
True freedom is not walking in deception and darkness. True freedom is having a heart that is fully surrendered to the Creator of all things. A heart that is tender to His purity, His holiness, and His love.
Shalom
Romans 12 (MSG)
12 1-2 So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.
Revelations 2:4 (MSG)
4-5 “But you walked away from your first love—why? What’s going on with you, anyway? Do you have any idea how far you’ve fallen? A Lucifer fall!
“Turn back! Recover your dear early love. No time to waste, for I’m well on my way to removing your light from the golden circle.
