“Something’s gone wrong,” my friend told me, his face strained and his eyes tired. “Every day I feel guilty because I am not growing spiritually. And to be totally honest, I don’t have a clue what God is like … or what he wants from me. Instead, I play church and act as if I have it all together. But inside, my faith is moldy.”
My friend continued to share his spiritual struggles, explaining that he was weary from the fog, weary from the busyness of life—always running hard but never getting anywhere. Mostly, he was weary from faking it and missing out on the things he wanted most: real purpose … real life. “My faith is stuck,” he confessed, “and I don’t know how to get it moving again.”
I knew exactly what my buddy was going through. As I took a big sip of coffee, I couldn’t help thinking, “Been there … done that.” The truth is, every Christian on the planet has felt spiritually lost at one time or another—leaving every one of us with that empty feeling that the only thing growing inside is mold!
Here’s what I have discovered, and what I told my friend: Two dangerous things happen if we allow the frenzy of life to keep us from connecting with God: 1) We won’t grow spiritually, and 2) we’ll end up feeling lost and alone in a spiritual desert.
Sometimes it’s really hard to take even the smallest spiritual step—yet that one step can change our trajectory and set in motion what God intends for us to experience. And feeling stuck usually has nothing to do with our lack of time. For many of us, we just don’t want to do what we know the Lord is nudging us to do: pray, read Scripture … spend a moment with him, read scripture, and pray.
My spiritual maturity as a Christian was transformed when I committed to do this one thing: No matter how busy I am—and regardless of the emotions I’m battling—I ask myself this question EVERY SINGLE DAY after reading scripture: “What is God calling me to do?” And then I make sure I take that crucial step.
All of us are waging a high-stakes war with “ACTION APATHY.” Losing or winning will impact us, our family and friends, and the people who need to hear the Gospel of Christ. The time battle restarts every day with the rising sun. We need to be on high alert for when God prompts us to do something or to reach out to someone … and THEN DO IT.
I ask God to give me the strength and courage to ask him every day what I MUST do.
WHAT ABOUT YOU
Will you commit to the habit of asking yourself this question every day: “What MUST I do today?”
“If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.” James 4:17
