My wife will tell you, I’m terrible about losing things around the house. I have been known to leave my car keys in the pantry or a book in the bathroom closet. When I misplace something, the first thing I’ll do is call Valerie, (her nickname is “the finder”), and tell her “honey, I can’t find my ______?” That’s when she’ll usually say, “go back to the last place you remember having them and start looking there!”
You know, it got me to thinking about the things that we lose spiritually. What do you do when you lose your zeal, your joy, your enthusiasm for living the Christian life? I believe that we should go back to where we last remember having those qualities in our lives and start searching there. That place is the church! The past two years of COVID induced isolation and social distancing have been difficult on all of us. It has taken a toll on the church, our spirituality and faith. Some have lost their devotion to prayer, attendance and giving. Others have lost interest in the church all together!
God has made it clear that this new life we enter into as Christians is a death to the old and a new birth into a fresh, new way of living. As Christians we must all adopt a resilient attitude to press ahead in spite of the challenges of life! I believe this is what the apostle Paul was talking about when he said, "... forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things we are before, I press toward the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 3:13-14)
Have the past two years been challenging for us? For sure. Are we affected by the past? Of course. Can we learn from the past? Hopefully. Must we be bound by the past? Absolutely not!
We can all think about the things that have changed during these difficult days we are going through but our challenge is to leave the past and its problems behind us and seek the future. We acknowledge that so many have lost so much during these times of pandemic; but the church is still here and we are looking forward by faith to better days the future. I pray that we will all make the effort to rekindle the power of faith and look forward because God has brighter days ahead!