You Are Warned

by Judy Glasser

It's just too easy to wander away from God.

I know because I wandered far from God for several years when I was a young adult.  I moved away from home and gradually filled my calendar with activities I knew were not the best for me. The people I met while doing these activities weren't interested in a relationship with God so we never talked about him.  My whole lifestyle changed to 'looking for love (and fun) in all the wrong places."

It was easy.

Several years later, I woke up (with a lot of nudging from the Holy Spirit) and realized I was not where I wanted to be.  Don't get me wrong - I had worked hard and gotten everything I thought I wanted - everything I thought would make me happy.

But I wasn't happy.  I had a huge hole in my life.  I needed a meaningful purpose for getting up every morning.  The daily grind of feeding the kids, moving up the corporate ladder, paying the bills and getting my 'to-do' lists done wasn't cutting it.

I was empty.  I felt it everyday but I didn't know what to do about it.  Do you know the feeling?

As I look around in our culture, I see this same emptiness in many people's eyes.  This 'looking for something to complete me' desire is extremely evident in their choices and behaviors.  I know you see it, too.  It has become 'normal' to act out and hurt others as we struggle with our emptiness.  

It took me a while to figure out that the aching hole in my life was where God was supposed to be. I'm sure the Holy Spirit had to work very hard on me to get me to see that.  My relationship with God at this point had melted into nonexistence.

I realized I missed God.  I missed my spiritual family.

After my eyes were opened to the truth, the pain and 'lostness' I see in our world doesn't surprise me.  We were created by God to be in a relationship with him.  When we aren't, it creates significant problems in our lives.

I know.  I've been there.  Can you relate?

I'm extremely grateful that the Holy Spirit helped me identify my real need and desire so I could get back on track.  My relationship with God has given me all the purpose and joy and success that I was looking for.

Christ-followers are not immune to this problem.  I have watched many of them wander away -

• their Bible starts gathering dust on a shelf.
• social activities on Saturday nights make sleeping in on Sunday mornings more important than worshiping God with their spiritual families.
• their week becomes too busy with other things so they drop out of small group Bible studies, leaving their Christian friends behind.
• Many Christians stopped going to church during our pandemic and have never gone back.  It is just so easy to wander away from being a part of a church family like God directs us to be, so easy to watch church in our pajamas on Sunday and check it off the list, ignoring God's words in Hebrews 10: 24 - 25. "And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another - and all the more as you see the Day approaching."

I am reminded that this can happen to anyone when I read about the end of King Solomon's life.  "As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been."  1 Kings 11:4.
 
Solomon was the wisest man who ever lived and he lost his way.   That's a little frightening, isn't it?

God had even told Solomon when he was younger not to marry foreign wives because this would happen.  Solomon was warned and he still wandered.

I know God is warning me - and you - today through his Word.   We must be diligent about keeping our priorities straight.  When attitudes and activities start to draw us away from God, we need to adjust our focus.

I wandered away once.  I'm determined not to do it again.