Connecting With God
Do you feel disconnected from God? Jennie Allen examines the barriers that keep us from connecting with God.
Questions for Discussion and Personal Reflection
- Do you ever feel that "connecting with God" is just another box to check?
- Are there barriers in your life, like guilt and shame, that you feel you have to "fix" before you can approach God?
Transcript
Somewhere my life, I heard that you're supposed to- as a Christian- have a quiet time every day, and I've never been very good at that. So, for so long when I- I had this journal that I kept and I would write in it, and every page would be like a week later, a month later, and every page read this: I know that you are disappointed that I have neglected you, that I have left you, you know, because I'm not journaling. And I, I look back at that, you know, in my young twenties and I think what a waste! Like, I'm sitting down to be with the God of the universe and I'm sitting there worried about you know, when the last time I journaled was. Like, that is, that is crazy. Like, he he adores me, and I am sitting before him, and all I can think is the shame and the guilt that I haven't been there in a few days, or months, or years. So I think that it's got to change, that, that our God wants us. He wants us desperately, but this is not a box to check. This is not a if-you-spend-so-much-time-with-him-then-you're-on-his-good-list. Our God is after us. He is pursuing us, and if we turn and we look at him and we want him, um, there's no shame - we do not have to recover from something. He is right there, and he is so thrilled, and he wants us. He wants us to just want him. And I think so often we miss God because we're, we're so full of shame or so full of guilt or so full of regret. And he is, he says, "no, I dealt with that. I took care of the shame and the guilt and regret. You just come back to me. I'm here." And so I think that freedom you know, to come back to God whenever, whenever we want you know, we don't have to work our way back. We just get to be there because he's waiting on us.