THE EFFECTS OF SEPARATION

BIBLE PASSAGE:
So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must
no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.
They are darkened in their understanding and separated from
the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to
the hardening of their hearts.
(Ephesians 4:17-18)

MEDITATION:
Have you ever had a good friend who suddenly moved away? Even
though you may call them, text them, or write them letters at times,
you still feel the pain of your separation from them.

Life is a continual learning experience, isn’t it? Too often, we have a
tendency to take others (and things) for granted until we are separated
from them. It is then that we realize the real value of having them in our
lives, and it creates in us a strong desire to be reunited with them again.

Something remarkable happens when God saves us doesn’t it? In the
blink of an eye, our focus changes and we have a strong desire to get
closer to God. Why? Because our relationship with Him becomes the
most important goal in our lives. Some people refer to this desire in
our lives as a ‘spiritual high’.

But as time passes, our new focus and desire begins to change, as it
fades into the background of many other things which demand our
time. It is then, we realize there is a real battle for our soul between 
God (Who loves us) and the world (which wants to separate us from God)

As our desire to grow closer to the Lord begins to fade, we can start
having thoughts like,
    “Was I really saved?”
If we follow Paul’s advice, we won’t be burdened with the ‘futility of
our thinking’.

He warned the Ephesians about their type of lifestyle after they became
believers in, and followers of, Jesus. He wanted them to understand
    (1) the importance of growing closer to the Lord, and
    (2) the threat of losing our desire to grow closer to Him
           (which creates a danger of our drifting away from Him).

Paul tells them (and us) that we shouldn’t live as those who have
separated themselves from the Lord. He says that many will miss
out on the life God has chosen for them because they have chosen
to separate themselves from Him.

While we exist on this earth, we can make that choice, but whenever
we step into eternity we no longer have the option to choose. It is God
who makes the choice to separate Himself from those who have chosen
to separate themselves from Him. However, when God separates Himself
from us, there is no hope of ever uniting with Him again.

Those who have separated themselves from God while living, will suffer
devastating consequences. Not only will they suffer from the agony of hell
itself, but they will also be consumed with regrets of the new life they could
be enjoying if they had made the right, and better, choices while they lived.

They will continue to exist, but it will be an eternal suffering (both physically
and emotionally) with the consequences of their choice to ‘separate themselves’
from their Creator. They will experience ‘paradise lost’. However, while we are
living, we still have an opportunity to change our choice and affect our eternal
destination.

ACTION:
How is your relationship with the Lord? Have you chosen to separate
yourself from him little by little in favor of chasing worldly desires, or
have you made the choice to grow closer to God while you live? There
is a song that many of us sang at church when we were young and it
had this phrase,
    “Though none go with me, I still will follow”.

You might be thinking,
    “How would I know if I have been separating myself from the Lord?”
To answer that question, ask yourself,
    “How does my obedience to His commands now,
      compare with my obedience to Him in the past?”
    “Have I grown closer to God, or have I drifted farther
      away from Him and become a ‘chaser’ of worldliness?”

God has said,
    “… but I gave them this command: Obey me, and I will be
      your God and you will be my people. Walk in obedience
      to all I command you, that it may go well with you. But
      they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed
      the stubborn inclinations of their evil hearts. They went
      backward and not forward.”
      (Jeremiah 7:23-24)

Compare the time you spend with God now (prayer, worship, and bible
study) with the amount of time you spent when you first received His
gracious gift of salvation. Is it less now, and if so, why is it less? What
things have replaced the time you used to spend with God? Have those
things become more important to you than spending time with God?
Do you still have ‘pet sins’ hanging around for your amusement?

Are you less sensitive to His call to His children to “Come unto Me”?
    “While you were doing all these things, declares
      the Lord, I spoke to you again and again, but
      you did not listen; I called you, but you did not
      answer.”
      (Jeremiah 7:13)

How are you using the spiritual gifts He has given you (when He saved
you) to serve Him in whatever way He wants you to serve? God said to
Jeremiah,
    “Before I formed you in the womb I knew
      you, before you were born I set you apart;
      I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
      (Jeremiah 1:5)

God has plans for His creations.
    For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the
    Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you,
    plans to give you hope and a future.
    (Jeremiah 29:11)

We are reminded in God’s Word that we have been created for
a purpose (as determined by God) and we are given a choice to
follow His desire for us, or create our own plans.
    For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ
    Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in
    advance for us to do.
    (Ephesians 2:10)

Are we any different than Jeremiah? God appointed each of us to serve
Him in some way. Do you feel like you are one of His missionaries? When
we read Matthew 28:19-20, we can see that when we are saved, we have 
BECOME His missionaries.
    “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations,
      baptizing them in the name of the Father and
      of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching
      them to obey everything I have commanded you.
      And surely I am with you always, to the very end
      of the age.”

Only God knows when Jesus will return to take to Heaven all
those who belong to Him (aka, those who have not separated
themselves from Him). What choice have you made? Do you
need to change your choice while you still have time?

Pray,
“Heavenly Father, I ask your forgiveness if I have allowed
other things to separate me from spending time with You.
Help me to refocus my thinking so that You are the most
important One in my life. Guide me into changing my
thoughts from separating myself from You, to a new desire
of wanting to spend more time growing closer to You and
serving You as You have appointed me to serve. I don’t
want to find out when I step into eternity that I have
separated myself from you.”

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