Restored: Relationship

This past Saturday I took my daughter to Chicago to spend the day. We seldom get to do anything together so it was a wonderful day. We did shopping at IKEA and as we headed down the escalator to leave I realized that I no longer had my phone. We stared at each other in horror. Rather I stared at her in horror, paralyzed by the thoughts of the cost, inconvenience and, most traumatic, the loss of phone numbers, apps, pictures, text messages and history. Long story short... my phone is gone. Whether it was misplaced, dropped or stolen, I do not know but it is gone. So now I have to go through the ordeal of getting it replaced - which due to my particular situation is not easy, convenient or comfortable (that is another devotional for another day). Hopefully sometime this week I will have a brand-new phone.

There are times when we become spiritually lost. We do not intentionally become lost but we get distracted by the cares and burdens of life or the blessings that come our way. Perhaps we become so busy that we are not prayed up and we don't get in God's Word as much as we used to so we become spiritually weak and unable to withstand the temptations that come our way.  We do love God and our desire is to serve Him but when we see how far we unintentionally strayed we become spiritually paralyzed and don't know what to do first. Then our pride kicks in and we start to justify our choices and decisions; all the while straying further and further from that which we know is right. Before long our pride has grown so big that we no longer see that we are lost and in need of a Savior. If we are not careful our pride can become so large that only God can humble us. Humbling ourselves is not easy, convenient and certainly not comfortable but it is through that humbleness that our relationship with God is made new. As we recognize that we have strayed and draw close to our Savior, he will welcome us and draw close to us. 

"But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded." James 4:6-8