That's It?

I read a book once called, If I Stay. It was a good book, not in my top 10, but I would probably read it again. They made a movie about it shortly after my friend and I read it, so we went to see it when it came out with another friend of ours that had not read the book. The movie ended and our friend that had not read the book leaned forward, looked at us, and said, “That’s it?" She was not happy. I had forgotten that she had not read the book and was not expecting it to end the way that it did. She wanted more. She wanted resolution. 

I would argue that most of us desire resolution in our lives. We don’t like to leave something feeling like there has to be more or like something is unfinished. I don’t know a lot of people who like books or movies that leave the ending up to the audience. It aggravates most people. We want to know what happens. We don’t like to be left wondering. Even the Choose Your Own Adventure books eventually lead you to an ending. You don’t walk away from those books thinking, “Really? That’s it?" 

There are a lot of things in life that leave us asking this question as we walk away. Maybe you ask this question every day when you leave work for the day. Maybe you have asked this question after paying a large amount of money to go to a show or amusement park. Maybe you have left a church service in the past asking yourself this question. If that’s you, don’t be embarrassed to admit it. It is actually not a bad thing. God might be trying to tell you something through that feeling. 

Generally when people walk away from a church service feeling like they didn’t get enough out of it or like there must be something more, they blame the service. They say things like, “Well, I am just not getting fed” or “The music just didn’t move me." Whatever their reasoning is, they come to the conclusion that this church must not be the place for them and move on in search of a pastor to “feed” them on Sunday mornings. Might I suggest a different explanation? 

When we initially come to Christ, we don’t typically know a whole lot about God or the Bible, so we rely on pastors to teach us the things we need to know. We need someone to talk to us about how to read scripture or what prayer is and why we should do it. Just like we continue to grow in our physical lives, we also continuously grow in our spiritual lives as well. In our physical lives, we go from having to rely on someone else to feed us to having the ability to feed ourselves. We do the same in our spiritual lives. At some point, we grow to the point where we don’t need to rely on anyone else to feed us spiritually, and God begins to beckon us to come to Him on our own for sustenance.

God longs to spend time with us one on one. He has so many things He wants to tell us and show us. He longs for us to understand that He is not confined to one space. He longs for us to understand that He is available seven days a week, not just on Sundays. He wants us to experience what it is like to bask in His presence all by ourselves. He wants us to open His book and sit in His presence alone so that He can show us the things hidden in His word that He placed there specifically for us right at that moment in our lives. 

Might I suggest that the feeling that you have had in the past when you left a church service feeling like you had not been fed was God’s way of calling out to you? That maybe it was God’s way of letting you know that you were growing up spiritually? Is it possible that this was your Daddy’s way of handing the spoon over to you for the first time so that you could feed yourself for a change? 

God never wants us to stay in the same place spiritually. He wants us to grow continually. The ultimate goal is a personal relationship with Him. Personal. Meaning one on one. Don’t get me wrong; corporate worship is very important. God created us as relational beings, and we need to surround ourselves with others and worship with others on a regular basis. We also have to cut the apron strings at some point and step out into our relationship with God on our own. God has handpicked some amazing things that He wants to share with you on an individual basis, things that are just for you. The next time that you have that feeling, lean into it a little and see what God is trying to tell you through that feeling rather than running from it and moving on to the next thing. Running just prolongs the inevitable and causes you to miss out on some incredible time with your Daddy...and no one wants that.