Have you ever wandered in your Christian walk? Been tempted to wander? I know I am not alone here. When life is not going as we expected, hoped or even prayed, temptation to go our own way often finds us. When I think of how prone to wander I am personally, the hymn “Come thou Fount of Every Blessing” always comes to mind...
O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above…
Why do we love this song? I think because we so easily relate to it and it helps us to implore the relentless war we experience as we live the paradox of the Christian life that Paul described in Romans 7:21-23,
“I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.”
Anyone relating here??There are so many ways that we can “wander” in the different seasons of life we find ourselves in. This is why it is so important that we have people in our lives who will speak the truth to us and hold us accountable.These are just a couple examples of areas where I am prone to wander:When I am sick and tired of “checking the single box” in life, I just decide that I should fix this whole “singleness problem” on my own. This definitely means NOT doing it God’s way, or even seeking the kind of person He would want for me. This is a really dangerous kind of wandering that I am well aware only leads to more trouble. Yet, the temptation is there when I am only thinking of myself – my desires, my life, my comfort.I have always demonstrated a TON of self-control in this area – I just don’t like the uncertainty of the dating scene, or rather… the “serial dating” scene. It freaks me out and deep down I truly DO want what God has for me. Honestly though, sometimes He really frustrates me and since I am a control freak, well… it just seems easier to just take matters into my own hands. I am not proud of this, but I am telling it like it is.When my church and the people in it disappoint or hurt me, I just decide that I don’t want to go to that church anymore, or sometimes... ANY church at all. It is so painful sometimes and it is much easier to run away from it than to face it. When I love, I love deeply. I put a lot of time and energy and thought into all of my relationships. While this can be seen as a great quality to have, with it comes a great deal of heartache.We are all going to be tempted to wander in some way or another. I think realizing what those areas are for us personally is really important. God is faithful even when we don't understand Him AND when we are not as faithful as we could be. Somehow, someway - there IS grace for each day. I do not really see this until I start looking back, but I know it is there.I have not gone off and gotten married just to end the waiting. And I have not left church.This is the struggle of the Christian life... but at least there is the "struggle!" :)Sometimes all we can do is just keep putting one foot in front of the other. I have to believe that is enough."Now unto Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord." Jude 1:24-25
