I’m reading the book, “Approaching Hoofbeats,” by Reverend Billy Graham (1983). In it he speaks to Christians who may be falling away from their faith:
“Invariably, I find the person who is involved in irresponsible, destructive and debasing practices is the person who is falling out of love with Christ and is trying to fill the empty space with other things, even trying to fill the spiritual emptiness with sexual excitement. It will not work! Only God’s love can fill our empty spaces. Human love will always fall short and fail — and sex or materialism alone will not even come close to filling it.” (Page 57)
When God does not play the role in our lives that He should, we ‘re tempted to fill the emptiness of our hearts in other ways. I once tried to fill my heart’s emptiness with my career, which was a colossal blunder. I learned that if our hearts are not filled with love for God and one another, our hearts cannot rest. Nothing except a meaningful relationship with God will ever satisfy or soothe it for very long.
Christ teaches us how to relate to Him and to God. His teachings are not simply suggestions. They’re instructions given to us in order to form a more meaningful relationship with God.
Like a healthy marriage, a healthy relationship with Christ requires a total commitment by both parties. God through Christ have already made that commitment. They’ve made the ultimate sacrifice for our love. We cannot ignore Christ or love someone or something more than God and expect to be happy.
We cannot expect to be fulfilled if we are passive recipients of God’s love. Our relationship is incomplete until God’s love is returned.
For either we love God with all our heart and put Him first, or we do not love Him as we should. At least not in the way God intended.
For anything less than 100% is no commitment at all.
Photo by kateleigh
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