Saved Isn’t the End of the Journey; It’s the Beginning

And it will be a long road.

Image from Kevin Carden Photography

Today comes a hard lesson; just as quickly as you can come back to Jesus, you can slip away. Once you are saved, it isn’t the end. You aren’t finished. You are only just beginning. And it will be a long- and at times difficult- road ahead.

I don’t write that to scare you; it’s a fact. I don’t want to sugarcoat it either. Like any relationship, having a relationship with Jesus takes real work. It isn’t finished when you are baptized. It isn’t finished when you accept Jesus into your heart. There’s still a long way to go.

This time last week, I was listening to sermons on a daily basis. I was reading books. I was highlighting verses in my Bible. I was doing good, by all accounts. And where am I now? I haven’t cracked open the Bible in a week, I haven’t read anything, I haven’t even listened to a full sermon (I did finish the last five minutes of one I had been listening to, but did I get a real message in five minutes?). I feel like I’m back where I started. What happened?

Well, life happened. I got a bad head cold, I got to binge watching West Wing, playing Nintendo, and semi-subconsciously I chose to take some time off. Except you don’t get to take time off in a relationship, do you? We all know how well “We were on a break” worked with Ross and Rachael.

The thing is, while I was taking time off, I got back into my usual habits, and I forgot to seek God’s will in things. I forgot to ask Him what He wanted me to do. God doesn’t take time off from me, so why do I think it’s alright I take time off from Him?

Granted, He forgives. And if the Prodigal Son story is any indication, He is not only willing to forgive, He is eager to do so. But why would I choose an aimless life that I know will be forgiven, instead of working to serve His will?

And more importantly, what if I took more than a week off? You see, as I was getting into Scripture every day, I was getting more and more uplifted by it. I was learning more and more from it. But in this last week, in my apathy (and my head cold), I’ve thought of God less and less. And when this week is finally over, what happens next week? Do I pick it all back up, and keep on trucking?