The first time I read the title of a song from U2, “Get Out Of Your Own Way”, I thought, “That’s it. That’s our problem. It’s not everyone else.” We do get in our own way, which can keep us from fulfilling our life’s purpose. But then again, we keep coming up with interesting ways of avoiding the truth, and ourselves.

A man walks to his mailbox, and later through a grocery store, with a “fitbit” around his wrist, and says to himself, “I have exercised.” A woman reads the verse, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” and drives her car into her garage, as she waves to her next-door neighbor. She quickly shuts the garage door, like she does each time she arrives home, while her neighbor is left standing outside. A religious intellectual, warms a church pew, but respectfully keeps his distance, to avoid catching his soul on fire for God.

Our society preaches: “It’s a sin to not feel good all the time.” That old expression, “Our world is going to pot!” seems to bring with it some type of prophetic fulfillment, with the legalization of Cannabis. If a person is lonely or bored, and wants to escape the responsibilities of this life, the world of porn is one click away.

To really change, requires first, being willing to believe the truth, followed by reading the truth, and finally, walking in the truth. If you read the Bible, it’s convicting. It wasn’t meant to be just a warm and fuzzy experience. Reading, and then living out God’s word, is necessary for our very survival. Our daily bread. I’ve heard people say, “How does so-and-so make it without God?” I would mix that up a bit, “How does Joe-Christian survive this ever changing world, without seeking the living God on a regular basis?” Church attendance, by itself, doesn’t cut it.

Even though our culture may not value us, God does. From Alex Seeley’s Tailor Made, she writes, “We all have an individual fingerprint, tongue print, and footprint, which means we were each called to touch people’s lives like no one else, to speak like no one else, to walk a path like no one else-and to leave a mark on this earth like no one else.”

So, if God made your specific footprint, or step, do you resist walking “in step” with Him?

Jeremiah’s words are just as relevant and haunting as they were thousands of years ago. “And you have brought this upon yourselves by rebelling against the Lord your God, even though He was leading you on the way!” (2:17, NLT)

God desires a one on one relationship, and it’s not some nebulous concept. The God who created the cosmos, wants to be with you. The God who became the person Jesus, wants to commune with you. The God who left us with the deposit of the Holy Spirit, (until He returns) longs for you to not be alone. That’s His invitation. The gate is open.

pictures courtesy of “Nelson & his Nikon”