{"id":3023,"date":"2015-09-06T09:00:25","date_gmt":"2015-09-06T14:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.barbdahlgren.com\/?p=3023"},"modified":"2015-09-07T18:14:44","modified_gmt":"2015-09-07T23:14:44","slug":"choose-to-come-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/?p=3023","title":{"rendered":"Choose to Come Back"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Year of Choices…<\/em><\/p>\n

By Barbara Dahlgren from Barbara\u2019s Banter at\u00a0www.barbdahlgren.com<\/a><\/em>
\n<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Robert Robinson was a bit wild in his youth.\u00a0 However in his early twenties he settled down.\u00a0 He became an adamant follower of Jesus and a dedicated Methodist preacher.\u00a0 It was at that time in 1757 that he wrote the words to the beloved hymn Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing <\/em>which starts\u2026<\/p>\n

\"Come<\/a><\/p>\n

The last stanza says\u2026<\/p>\n

Prone to wander Lord I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. Here’s my heart Lord take and seal it, seal it for Thy courts above.<\/p>\n

\"Come<\/a><\/p>\n

That last part turned out to be a bit prophetic for Robertson.\u00a0 Legends say that in his older years \u00a0he was on a stagecoach sitting next to a woman who sang the hymn and asked Robertson if he had ever heard it. \u00a0He said, \u201cMadam, I am the poor unhappy man who wrote that hymn many years ago, and I would give a thousand words, if I had them, to enjoy the feelings I had then.\u201d<\/p>\n

To which the lady replied, \u201cThe streams of mercy are still flowing.\u201d<\/p>\n

No one truly knows if these stories that circulate are totally accurate.\u00a0 Especially, since they are passed down from one generation to another.\u00a0 However, we know he was a wild youth.\u00a0 We know he came to Christ.\u00a0 We know he was a preacher.\u00a0 We know he wrote the song.\u00a0 We know he wandered. And we know that the \u201cstreams of mercy\u201d were still flowing for him and they are still flowing for us!<\/p>\n

Some of us are prone to wander from Christ.\u00a0 And some of us don\u2019t actually wander away from Christ but we are prone to wander from that love we had when we first came to Christ.\u00a0 That\u2019s what happened to the church at Ephesus.\u00a0\u00a0 Although they had many fine qualities, God said, \u201cNevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.\u201d \u00a0(Revelation2:1-7; v. 4)<\/p>\n

This \u201cfirst love\u201d is Jesus Christ.\u00a0 We can be dedicated to service and sacrifice; we can be patient, good, and kind; we can even persevere \u2013 but if we don\u2019t love Christ, we miss the mark.\u00a0 The things we do outwardly must be motivated by our intimate relationship with Christ.<\/p>\n

We know that God does not pull away from us, but sometimes we pull away from God.\u00a0 If that is true, then we need to come back.\u00a0 We need to come back to Christ.\u00a0 We need to renew our relationship with Him.\u00a0 We need to rekindle our first love.<\/p>\n

Consider this\u2026\u00a0 Distancing ourselves from God does not happen overnight.\u00a0 It happens gradually.\u00a0 Being prone to wander from God is a temptation we need to resist just like any other.\u00a0 However, we can\u2019t wander so far that Christ won\u2019t lovingly welcome us back with open arms.\u00a0 That\u2019s what the message of the Prodigal Son is all about! (Luke 15:11-24)<\/p>\n

\"Matthew<\/a><\/p>\n

Wandering can make us weary.\u00a0 God tells us to come to Him when we are weary and He will give us rest. (Matthew 11:28)\u00a0 So if we have wandered we can do what the prodigal son did.\u00a0 Come back!\u00a0 We can come back to our Father\u2019s house and enjoy the blessings he has waiting for us.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Suggestions for practicing this choice\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n