I want to share something that happened today:

I went shopping for groceries and also clothes. I was looking for Coles and I misread the arrow. I didn’t realize this until I started walking further down the shopping mall. It dawned on me that I was heading in the wrong direction. Instead of turning around, I was thinking about how clueless I must look in the eyes of others (it’s amazing how we get in our own heads sometimes). It was obvious that I was lost but I didn’t want to admit it. The Holy Spirit kept nudging me to walk back but I ignored Him because, in my stubbornness, I was more focused on how I looked rather than face the truth.

I was lost.

After being convicted about my stubbornness, in the moment of swallowing my pride and accepting how crazy I must have looked to others (making my way down, only to walk all the way back). I began to wonder; this is exactly how we can be when it comes to repentance.

I thought I was going in the right direction, I had everything figured out and I had a goal in mind. Similarly, as Christians, we may think we’re going in the right direction and soon realise later on that we have gone astray.

Like me who refused to walk back, you might think to yourself, “What’s the whole point of turning back to God when I’ve gone too far?” Maybe you felt the Holy Spirit tug on your heart and heard His voice speaking to you. And now, you don’t hear His voice again. And you tell yourself, I’m too far gone. I’m lost, I can’t even recognise the voice of the Good Shepherd anymore. I’m a sheep that will never be found.

Maybe, you’re a respectable person and people look up to you. As a result of leaning on your own human wisdom, you walked a path that you know you shouldn’t have walked. Now you’re hard on yourself because you’re the last person that anyone would expect to have made that mistake.

The truth is, God never left us. We left Him. God is faithful to us that even when we are faithless and unfaithful. He cannot deny Himself (2 Timothy 2:13). While we were still in our sin, walking in disobedience and rebelling against God’s word, refusing to submit to Him out of reverence and love – He sent Jesus to die on the Cross for us. Proving that His love is unconditional.

But God proves His love for us in that while we still were sinners
Christ died for us. 
Romans 5:8

God is full of grace and His mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23). It’s His word, God never contradicts Himself. He keeps His promises. You might know all the scripture and still not believe it.

What keeps us from believing His word….is the very same thing that keeps us from wanting to confess our sins? It’s not shame or condemnation or guilt. Although, those things can ensnare us iIf we don’t meditate on the truth.

It’s the same thing that stopped me from turning back once I realized my mistake. It was my stubbornness which is a form of pride.

Pride may cause you to magnify other people’s shortcomings but when it comes to you, it’s a completely different story. Pride can blind you into seeking the glory that should only belong to God. And as the scripture goes, pride always comes before a fall.

Pride will make you think that you are infallible.

Most of all, pride will make you waste time when it could have been dealt with a whole lot quicker if we humbled ourselves (and I’m preaching to myself too!).

Repentance is ‘turning away and turning to’. You not only have to acknowledge that you sinned but accept that you sinned. Turning back to God requires humility. Humility is simply saying “God, I need You”. God gives grace to those who realize that they need Him. God’ grace is what help us to overcome things that we couldn’t do in our own flesh.

But He gives all the more grace; therefore, it says.
“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble”
James 4:6

But when you walk in pride, you begin to take matters into your own hands. So instead of crying out to God and asking for help. We try to clean ourselves without examining ourselves.

The truth is, we are all sinners in need of a Saviour. We could not save ourselves. There was nothing we could do and even when we got it right, we still fell short the next time. The things we knew we shouldn’t do – we ended up doing it (Romans 7:14-25). If we could do it on our own, then that meant Christ died in vain which is false (Galatians 2:21).

Christ was sent into the world, though He was God, He was fully man. God empowered Him through His spirit. The same spirit that was in Jesus, we also have. Through Him we are victorious. Through Him, we are set free. Through Him, we are no longer separated but reconciled.

Whether you have wandered away from the truth, from the church and God. Or you’re still wandering but sense the Holy Spirit prompting you to return. Or wondering if God will ever open His arms to you again. He will. Our God is just but He is also compassionate. It wasn’t until the prodigal son came to the end of himself that he realised that he needed to return to his father (Luke 15:11-24).

It’s never too late to decide to make yourself right with God. Don’t look at people, don’t look to your past, how far you’ve gone or look to yourself but look to God. The only person that is your relationship with Jesus is you.

You may tell yourself “I’ve wandered too far” but is it worth walking further and further away from God when turning back brings you so much closer to Him.

God bless,

Susan ♡