By James Washington
I’m learning what it means to have a personal relationship with God. As one begins to travel down the path towards the Almighty, it becomes more and more obvious that choosing which path to take at the fork in the road is merely a matter of choice, not circumstance, not accident, not fate. Once you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour, what’s in your heart takes priority over what’s in your mind or what comes out of your mouth. I believe this is where faith begins, and ignorance falls by the wayside, even as we desperately want to continue claiming ignorance as a defense for unholy actions, unholy practices, or hypocritical conduct. The proof is in the heart.
Like the child who responds in silence to the parent who states, “I know you know the difference between right and wrong, or I know you know you weren’t raised that way,” the silent child knows in his or her heart that the parent is correct. No answer is the answer. And so it is with God.
No matter the situation or the circumstance, when you acknowledge God, you cannot use the excuse that you don’t know, you didn’t have control, it was an accident. This is God we’re talking about, and it’s your heart He’s talking to. You can deny it if you want to, but no answer is an answer, and indecision is a decision. Faith in the face of temptation does not automatically mean we’ll always make the correct choice. More often than not, we’ll let God down as well as ourselves. A true understanding of faith, however, won’t keep us down. Through faith and a personal relationship with God, we can get up and try again in still the face of other, if not the same, temptations we succumbed to in the first place.
You see, this personal relationship makes you somehow aware of the distance between you and God, much like that between you and a loved one. Time and distance make the heart grow fonder, supposedly. In this case, time and distance bring no peace and no satisfaction. In a true believer, this is obvious to God. Until you can submit to this personal pain and angst, until you feel this, then you can’t recognize that you have a choice in these matters, and even if you don’t choose the path God has laid out for you, you certainly know when you’re headed in the opposite direction. God hasn’t moved. You have.
Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him.” Romans 4:7-8. Is this possible? I understand if I can just get to “…circumcision of the heart by the (Holy)Spirit…) Romans 2:29. All things are possible to those who love the Lord. Again, as a child who knows he or she has disappointed a loving parent, there is no joy until the relationship is again in balance. Or, the couple who realizes anger and argument cannot last forever must be resolved to find conjugal peace. Walk with God, or better yet, simply attempt to walk with Jesus, and trust me, you’ll know when you’re out of step. You’ll feel it, and it will make you miserable, just as miserable as being out of touch with someone you love in the physical world. I guess I’m saying when you know you’re going wrong if you deliberately reach out to touch God. He’ll be there before you ever move your hand.
May God bless and keep you always.
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