Stuck In ReverseSample

A Long Way From Home

When you kneel to pray, do you find yourself going back over old sins—failures that happened years ago, or perhaps recent ones that have left you feeling hopeless and alone? You begin to pray but conclude God won’t forgive you, and you don’t know what to do. You’ve asked for His forgiveness in the past, but you’ve ended up feeling as though He doesn’t love you, doesn’t care, and won’t forgive your sin. These are Satan’s lies. God always forgives, restores, loves, and welcomes us home.

The people whose lives become stuck in reverse often end up in that position because they’ve chosen to take a route other than the one God wants them to travel. It could be a road to gossip, unforgiveness, a hardened heart, anger, adultery, fornication, or any number of other sins. Anything that separates us from God is sin in His eyes. This is because sin causes us to act independently of the will of God. Anytime we make a decision without consulting the Lord, we risk stepping outside of His will.

Often, we think we need to tackle life the way we want to tackle it. We feel as though we know the true score, and God hasn’t moved a finger to settle the issue that’s bothering us. Therefore, we take matters into our own hands. When we begin to view life from this perspective, an alarm should go off inside us. We should stop and think about what’s waiting for us just around the corner. 

Sometimes I run into a person who tells me, “I was once committed to God, but something happened. I changed or He changed, but it’s just not like it once was between us. I don’t feel like He cares for me.”

God will never stop loving you. Nothing you can do has the power to derail His love. If you find yourself a long way from home and there seems to be a distance between you and the Father, then it’s because you’ve moved in your devotion, trust, or love for Him. He’s the same yesterday, today, and forever (Heb. 13:8).

Satan, however, will do all he can to remind you of past sin—sin you’ve asked God to forgive. He’ll tell you the Lord’s disappointed in you and that you’re far from Him. Never believe a word of this. God’s intimately involved in the lives of His creation, and He’s always close to you. If you’ve yielded to sin, then you’ll sense a distance between you and the Lord. But the distance isn’t because God’s moved. He remains the same in His love and care for you. We’re the ones who move whenever we choose to disobey the Lord. Sin creates a distance within our hearts. We must always heed James’ instructions to us: “Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you” (4:7-8).