8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. (James 4:8)
If we are not careful, our faith can so easily flee from us. What made our heart beat and our life thrive, can escape us while we are left asking “what happened?” Chasing after Christ for a few years, I have found myself here more than once. Complacent and hardened, I pray for revival to start in my heart first. Working in ministry, this can be especially tricky. Every message has been heard before, every illustration taught before, and every act of God normalized behind a facade of doubt. As the author Ecclesiastes states: there is nothing new under the sun.
So when we find ourselves here, what do we do?
Draw near to God. There is common grace that all of us can see around us. Creation is alive with His works. Yet, the sacred grace that separates followers from aliens is made alive when we lean into its complexities. It is when we find ourselves most callous, most distant, that the hard work of devotion is demanded. Faith is a contact sport and those with the most bruises are those who have the most experience with the miraculous. We cannot begin to understand the depth of grace so it is best to simply surrender. May the gospel of Christ never lose its wonder in our lives. May we trust that when we take the most feeble of steps toward the finished work of the cross, He will take a gospel stride to the center of our dry valley.
Come Holy Spirit, make us fresh again.
Matt simon blog 