Thirsty Fish and Spiritual Deserts

I've followed God now for a little over 6 years now and even after such a relatively short time I'm regularly suprised at how unexcited I can get about God from time to time. How quickly the wonder can wear off, how fast the thirst can wane. I know the excitement and the thrist that led me to God, I know how passionately I responded to Him once I found Him. How could I be bored with the God of the universe, how can I so quickly forget all the excitement I had when I first started following Him?

And then I realize that Sin has done this, it has shortened my heart's attention span. And so, as I've said before, Sin leads us in two directions: novelty and excess and this doesn't just fade away when we find God. Sin is still there questioning us, asking us whether we have found the Ultimate. It (or more accurately, he) asks us how we can be so sure there isn't something better. Same as Sin did in the garden when he asked Eve how she could be so sure that eating the fruit wasn't better than obeying God. Sin somehow tries to make following God seem boring. At first, I ask how he could possibly succeed in doing this but then I look around and see that he's convinced most of the world of exactly that fact.

We think, as Christ followers, that we have done our job if we haven't allowed our eyes to stray from God. If we haven't allowed Sin to entice us elsewhere. But I say that if Sin can get us to yawn at our faith, to be surrounded by God and godly things and yet still feel like we're in a spiritual desert, then Sin is just as happy with the job he's done. Sin doesn't care what we're passionate about or whether we're passionate about anything at all - so long as we are not passionate about God.

My task and our task, today and everyday for the rest of our lives is to keep our hearts fixed on pursuing God. Just like my relationship with my fiancee, I must freshly renew my love and committment to her regularly. Neglect can do as much damage as abuse. And so my daily prayer: I didn't just give You my life six years ago, Lord, I give it to You everyday and today is no different. Amen.