I enjoy watching a good football game. I remember a game once where a player got the ball and ran over half the field in what would have been the final score that would put his team on top and make them the winners, but he got too distracted by the excitement and threw the ball down in celebration one step BEFORE he crossed the goal line – his team lost. He ran over half the field and argued with the officials that he was so close and there was no other player around him so the touchdown should be good, but no – he WAS VERY close, but not close enough.
You know that’s the way a lot of people live the Christian life. They get as close as they feel comfortable to God, yet they still hang onto some things that distract them or they know deep down they shouldn’t be participating in or doing. They argue, “Well, I give God most of my time, most of my possessions, etc., what difference does it make if I don’t give Him 100%? God knows my heart.”
The Bible warns us in Isaiah 59:1-2, “Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.” God will not settle for 90% of our lives – He requires we give Him ALL. And it is ONLY when we seek Him with ALL of our hearts and desire to know Him more closely each day that God will work in our lives in amazing ways.
Yes, there ARE LOT’s of temptations and pleasures in this world that CAN distract us from seeking God, but we have to keep re-focusing on Him and NOT allow ourselves to give in to those distraction, or else we will fall short.
How many Christians I know who have set out to give everything to God and have gotten OH SO CLOSE to accomplishing that, but they’ve given up when they thought it was too hard or too difficult or they became distracted by outward pleasures and sin. They were so close to experiencing God in ways that we all dream of, yet they dropped the ball…they got discouraged…they quit.
Don’t give up! Be willing to pay WHATEVER the cost to TRULY Know Him and seek Him and follow Him. Remember, God’s ways are beyond our ways and His plans are beyond our plans. He created us, and only wants us to trust Him and watch Him work in our lives as ONLY He can do.