Forgotten
When most of us became Christians, we had a period that most people would refer to as being on fire for God. We tried hard to leave our old ways behind us, we wanted to learn more about God, and we wanted to change the world. However, over time, most of us lost that feeling, and slowly slipped back into what we used to be. It probably wasn’t an overnight fall, but a gradual slipping. See, it’s very easy to lose something slowly. If we’re not constantly trying to follow God; if we neglect our personal Bible studies, and if we skip church, it’s going to be hard to stay on the path.
Peter writes about this in 2 Peter 1:5-9. He lists a lot of qualities that we need to have, like godliness and love, and says if we don’t have these, we’re blind, and we’ve forgotten that we saved from our sins. Without those qualities in our lives, we’re no different than what we were before we were saved. We need to constantly be trying to be better Christians and be closer to God. Do we try to have these qualities in our lives all the time, regardless of how hard it is? Or do we only do so when it’s convenient?
Paul speaks a lot about resisting his old nature. Even though we’re new creations, we still have to resist falling back into our old habits. It’s hard work sometimes, but with God’s help we can change. If we’re still doing all the things that we did before we were saved, we need to take time to pray and seek God’s help to change. How about us? Are we all very different from what we were before we were saved?
It’s possible, however, to still do all the right things, and still have forgotten God. Revelations 3, where the churches are being assessed, criticizes one of the churches for having forgotten its first love. This church followed the letter of the law. They wouldn’t tolerate evil in their midst. They endured so much from the world. It sounds like they were a strong church, but they had forgotten their first love. They had gotten so focused on doing things that they forgot the reason why they were doing them. We need to be sure that not only are we doing the right thing, but we need to be sure that God is the focus, not what we’re doing.
So, looking at our own lives, do we still feel as on fire for God as we did when we started? Are we still trying to change the world around us for God? If not, we need to take a good hard look at ourselves, and come back around to Him. It’s hard to keep focused sometimes, but with His help, we can.
