Now you say you already repented back in the beginning when you received Christ as your savior. So let us go back to the beginning and review your christian start. You were told that to become a christian you must first believe that Jesus is the Son of God that He was born of the virgin Mary that He suffered and died on a cross and that He rose again from the dead etc. Secondly in order for you to receive this wonderful offer of forgiveness of sins and the free give of eternal life you must first repent of your sins, that is to be sorry for all the wrongs that you have done, thirdly to give your whole life over to Jesus, fourthly to ask Him into your life to become your Lord and Savior.  Basically the sinners prayer.  I trust you have already done that.

Going back to the beginning again, you became a born again Christian. your sins are forgiven, and the free gift of eternal life is yours. What a thrill! What a relief to find the very thing our hearts were looking for. God loves us and He came to this filthy dirty sinned filled planet and lived among us for 30 plus years, He taught us so much, He did miracles, He truly showed love towards us. And then the ultimate act of love, He died for us and not an ordinary death either, His death paid the penalty for all of our sins. This opened the door for us to have fellowship with Christ, He is in our hearts. The Apostle Paul called it the great Mystery, Christ in us.

As a result of all this we were excited, thrilled and we strove to keep up with our promise to repent of all our old sin habits and live a God pleasing life. At first it wasn’t so hard. At first we tried hard.  But as time went on some of our old sin habits creeped back in. Nobody seemed to mind and we found out that this is the norm in our churches. We don’t sin as much as we used to do but we do tend to keep some of our favorite sins, after all this is not going to affect my forgiveness or my salvation, right? I know there are threats and warning and admonitions and commandments but still the church teaches us that we are eternally secure as long as we don’t go full tilt sinning and get tossed into the “cheap grace” dumpster.

The thrill of becoming a new Christian eventually wears off. The newness of it all grows old and we began to settle down into a mediocre routine. The only “thrill” we feel anymore is in the worship service. The singing, the worship team with the band, it is cool it is really cool and yeah we get a good feeling worshiping. We can sense the presence of the Lord, we can feel the love he has for us. During that time of the service and even during the sermon we feel blessed. And the fellowship  with our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ is priceless.

But then after the service we have to go home. And that is often times when that blessed feeling wears off. You have the kids nagging and fighting, the wife nagging and fighting too! You think about work, the problems there. Then there is the finances, how are we going to pay for all this? Watch sports, have a beer, hey did you see that hot babe on my big screen tv just now? Lust. Aw man I just can’t help it, please just leave me alone, maybe I will have two beers.

You might be feeling right now that loving God with all your heart is a thousand miles away from you and you can’t see how in the world you are going to bridge the gap. I have been there, I have done that. Like me you may have to suffer though these things over and over again until finally you get sick of it and like the prodigal son decide to make the long trek back home to your heavenly Father, that is, if he will take you back. For you have returned to your sins like a dog returning to its vomit, you are like the sow after having been washed returns to wallowing in the mire. You have squandered your inheritance. There is a price you are going to have to pay for your foolishness. How are you going to face Jesus after all you have done and considering all that He has done for you? What are you going to say? Would you like me to go with you to Jesus? Sorry dude, as in many things in the Christian walk it is mono e mono, one on one, you and Jesus alone.

Try reading some of the Psalms, Psalm 51 is a good one, I have it memorized. It is a prayer David made after he had committed adultery with Bathsheba and murdered her husband so he could marry her. So if there is hope for King David after sinning so grievously then certainly there is hope for you and me.

If you are reading this then that means you want to get back on track and get back into fellowship with the living God and experience loving God in a real and meaningful way. Maybe you once had that loving relationship, like David, then lost it, like David, and now are looking for restoration. That is good, I think I can help, here is a hint, once you get a little closer to “home” your heavenly Father will eventually spot you and will come running to you, He will be soooo happy to see you returning. He will put His arms around you and kiss you, He will put a ring on your finger and a robe over your raggedy clothes and will throw a great bid party and will invite all the angels in heaven to celebrate with Him.

May the Lord bless you and keep you,  may he lift up his face upon you and be gracious to you, may he lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen.