Morgalicious

Why do we turn away from God? Once we know him and love him, what causes us to stray again? My relationship with Him is fairly new, but I already have enough experience with turning away to do some further investigating. I notice that I go through phases. At one point, I'll be deeply in love with Christ, and my eyes will be on only Him. Then it seems like I turn away almost instantly. I go through a few weeks feeling lost and lonely before I finally turn back to Him again. Why does this happen?

I think about my human relationships. For instance, my stepmom and I were close from the very beginning. We were best friends, and I called her multiple times daily. Once she and my dad got married, things changed a bit. I wasn't sure of my place in her home since it was a new experience for me. I found myself doing things that hurt her feelings, and I wasn't sure what to do about it. I felt like I was constantly screwing things up. Instead of working things out with her, I turned away from her. Does this sound familiar?

We do the same thing to God.

We are human, therefore we make mistakes. We can have the best relationship with God and still do things that he doesn't approve of. When I mess up, I feel so ashamed. I feel like I've finally messed up so many times that He is just going to give up on me. Instead of facing the problem, I turn away. I try to work things out on my own. It doesn't work that way, though. When we make mistakes and do things that God doesn't want us to do, we can't go on like nothing happened. That's why we must repent. I never really understood that until now. I always figured that if our sins are already paid for, why should we have to repent every time it happens? We have to be honest with God in order to have a functional relationship with Him. You have to trust that He will forgive you. You can't turn away, because it will only make things worse.