They are distracted by the cares of this world.
Work, fishing, football, golf, or yard work, become a Sunday morning ritual for many. I have known people who only attend during the winter months, freeing them up to enjoy their summer. Of course there are those who attend Christmas and/or Easter but no other time. Many of us abandon church when going off to college or going into the military. The reasons and excuses are countless.
When I went into the military, I had my first real taste of freedom; or so I thought. When I got to my first duty station, I didn’t go to church. I had a lot of great reasons; the truth was, I stayed out late and was living in sin. My conscience made me want to avoid God. How could I go to church while living this way. (see earlier post about rebellion)
When I came back to the states, I had this horrible sense of guilt. I felt I was lost. How could I ask God to forgive me? Why should He? It was if I could hear Satan accusing me before God; reminding Him of every single sin I had committed.
I loathed myself. My sense of freedom had turned into a twenty thousand pound weight around my ankles as I stood on a creaking board at the end of a rickety old pier, waiting to be pushed into the ocean. But God was merciful; He sent a group of young men who convinced me God still loved me. If He could forgive me, I had to forgive myself. If I didn’t, it was as though I was rejecting Him again.
It took months of these young men working with me for me to quit reliving my sins.
If you are outside the will of God and you know you need to get right with Him, don’t put it off. Cry out to Him today. He is anxiously waiting~
18 Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, 19 and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. –Mark -19
11 Then He said: “A certain man had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’ So he divided to them his livelihood. 13 And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living. 14 But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. 15 Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. 16 And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.
17 “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, 19 and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.”’
20 “And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. 23 And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; 24 for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry. –Luke 15:11-24
17 “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, 19 and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.”’
20 “And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. 23 And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; 24 for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry. –Luke 15:11-24
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