Start again....and again

It is so easy to give up. Well, I guess it depends on what the you are working on or working out. If you have a 30 year marriage or a 3000 peice puzzle, those are very different things. Giving up on a diet is easy when the church pot luck has your favorites. Giving up on your work out routine is easy when you are on vacation. Giving up on your daily bible reading when you've been on a different schedule is easy. Giving up on yourself when you have failed over and over seems easy.

But God did not design us to give up. As long as we are here on this earth there is still time for us to start again. The enemey wants to plant guilt and shame roots with each time we start again. We have to kill those weeds before they take root. There is no guilt or shame in starting over. Even if we have to tell those thoughts out loud "God aint mad at me, I am loved, today is a new day" Speak the truth and start again.

Galatians 6:9 says "let us not grow weary of going good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up."

We may have a few off days when we are sick, or our schedules get crazy, but that does not mean we give up. We just start again, and again. The important thing to remember is God isn't mad at you. He misses you. Our lack of discipline in study, quiet time, etc can lead to sin and can be a sin if God has directly told you to do those things. That sin creates a distance between us and God. It breaks a connection making it difficult to hear him, or comfort when we need him. He's not up there saying "You better get that quiet time or I wont help you". It's like loosing a connection to a close friend because we ignore them.

The minute we sit down in his presence he's delighted to see us.

As the Summer months continue on and the schedules change, start again, and again. Whatever it is. Honor God, in your words, in your actions, in your hearts. Do not grow weary of doing good. Because in him we are made good.