Remember the height from which you have fallen. Repent and do the things you did at first. (Revelation 2:5)
Have you taken as many golf lessons as I have over the years? Whenever someone complimented me on the range or the course, my husband would say that he had a lot of money invested in my swing!
When my game would go south on me, I knew I had to return to the basics. I always took notes after a lesson and kept them in my golf bag for just this purpose. And no matter how far I grew in my knowledge of the game, the basics never changed. They were just what I needed to get back on track.
And so it is with our Christian walk, our relationship with the Lord Jesus whom we are following. Have you noticed that our flesh, our default mode, tends toward rebellion? If left unchecked, we will become estranged from the Lord and less and less like Him.
There is the story of the man with two dogs, brothers from the same litter, one brown and the other red. He was asked which dog was the stronger, and his answer was,” The one I feed, of course.”
Are you feeding the flesh, your natural man? Or are you feeding the Spirit? Galatians 5:16 says, “So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.” To live by the Spirit, we have to get back to the basics of our faith: prayer (including confession), the Word, and worship.
We need to remember how it was when we first came to the Lord…when our faith was fresh and thrilling, and we couldn’t get enough of the Lord and His word – when everything seemed a miracle, and we were growing by leaps and bounds.
And then we need to repent, literally change our mind and our direction; instead of walking away from the basics, we need to return to them and jump right back into a daily quiet time with the Lord, praying, praising with time in the Bible.
This is a great time of year to assess our walk with the Lord. Are you closer to the Lord than you were in January? Or have you fallen? Commit to change your direction and return to the basics. For the joy set before you and the pleasure, it will bring our Lord.
“To progress, we need to begin again.” Martin Luther
Prayer: Father God, draw me back to a closer walk with You. Please help me to put you first in all things. In the strong Name of Jesus. Amen