Return To Our First Love

Judges 10:16 " And they put away strange gods from among them, and served the Lord: and his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel".

How many time have we prayed and asked God to get out of a situation with a promise that we would change our lives if he did, only to go back to our old ways as soon as the danger was gone. Through the years we believers can become complacent in our relationship with the Lord. We often begin to take Christ's sacrifice and God's daily grace for granted. Daily meditation in God's word, prayer, and communion are all reminders of the new covenant He has made with all who believe in Him.

Because God understands the nature of His people. He instructed Israel to remember on the day they came out of Egypt, out of their bondage, that it was the Lord who set them free. He wants us to remember our deliverance from the bondage of sin, and know that it is by His grace and mercy that we have a right to the tree of life. When we lose sight of God, we begin to focus on the inhabitants of this world. We begin to be drawn to serve and worship the gods of this world, and hold to the false hopes and empty promises we are presented with. We have made a covenant with God and at times we break our promises and are lead away into the captivity of sin. It is then we begin to cry out to the true God.But unless you repent you are not reconciled back to God.

 

 Repentance starts with the heart, and a acknowledgement of truth as to what we have done. Then there must be a deliberate turning away from sin, and a conscious decision must be made that we will love the Lord with all our heart, soul, and mind,  serving Him only. Sadly, like Israel, we often cycle in our relationship with the Lord; we can be hot, lukewarm and sometimes even cold. Israel's actions  should warn us of the danger of replacing our worship of God with another. To come back to God we must acknowledge and turn from their sin, and we must turn to God in faith through Jesus.