Don't You Want Me...Baby?

I am a fan of satellite radio. I like not being held captive by the limits of my FM antenna! The other day I had it tuned in to the 80's channel 80's on 8 and the DJ played an oldie but goodie - Don't you want me by The Human League. For some reason as I listened to the words I began to internalize them and say them as if it were a conversation between me and the Lord as opposed to some guy and his girlfriend. Take a look at the lyrics and see if you have ever had similar thoughts:

You were working as a waitress in a cocktail bar

When I met you

I picked you out, I shook you up, and turned you around

Turned you into someone new

Colossians 2: 13 - 14 - 13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. 15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

I Corinthians 6: 9 - 11   -  9 Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Christ, through his death on the cross, picked us up in the midst of where we were and turned us into someone new. What an amazing gift. But over time I/we can become hardened, self-centered, spiritually dehydrated and may respond the way the waitress did in this song:

I was working as a waitress in a cocktail bar

That much is true

But even then I knew I'd find a much better place

Either with or without you

The five years we have had have been such good times

I still love you

But now I think it's time I lived my life on my own

I guess it's just what I must do

Have you ever said that to God. Thanks God but I think I am going to do it my way for a while.

Provers 14: 12 - There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.

Jeremiah 1: 5 - 5 “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.”

Before we were created God had a plan for us. What a powerful thought to dwell on. 

What is it that causes us to turn away from God? What is it that makes us want to walk away from doing what it is that the One who created us has in store for us? I am not sure I have all of the answers for this one but my guess is it has everything to do with us and nothing to do with God. We walk away buy spending less and less time in His Word, by spending less and less time in prayer and by spending less and less time serving the needs of others and focusing more and more time and effort on ourself. 

James 5: 8 - Come near to God and he will come near to you.

God is not going to force Himself on us. He will make sure we know He is there but it is our decision as to whether we are going to follow Him and fellowship with Him. I will close with a quote from a book called I don't have enough faith to be an Atheist: 

God has provided enough evidence in this life to convince anyone willing to believe, yet He has also left some ambiguity so as not to compel the unwilling. In this way, God gives us the opportunity to either love Him or to reject Him without violating our freedom. In fact, the purpose of this life is is to make that choice freely and without coercion. For love, by definition, must be freely given. It cannot be coerced. That's why C.S. Lewis wrote, "the Irresistible and the Indisputable are the two weapons which the very nature of God's scheme forbids Him to use. Merely to override a human will (as His felt presence in any but the faintest and most mitigated degree would certainly do) would be for Him useless. He cannot ravish, He can only woo."

Don't you want Him?!