Communion restored

“When communion with Christ is broken, there is a strong desire in all true hearts to win it back again. If a person loses the joy of communion with Christ, he or she will never be content until it is restored.” Charles Spurgeon

Charles Spurgeon was such a strong preacher, and he has been a great influence on my thinking and how I approach preaching the Word. His power and sincerity permeate his writings and one cannot help but be inspired by the passion and intensity expressed in them. When he writes about breaking with Christ, he really captures the seriousness of the situation. There are many reasons that may cause people to be separated from their Saviour, but the end result is always the same. One is always worse off, spiritually, emotionally and even physically, because the mind and heart can influence our bodily health.

When I was young, I drifted away from Jesus, and my faith. I never lost it entirely, God be praised, but I did not accept Jesus into my daily reality. I loved Jesus, but not in an immediate or concrete way, not in a reciprocal way; Jesus is always giving, but I was not receiving. I was living my life under the misapprehension that I didn’t need God in my life, that God didn’t take part in the day to day of my living. Little did I know that because of this I lacked the resources to deal with the hard knocks of life, and when things got tough, I was dismantled and laid very low. I lacked the resilience that only our Lord and saviour can provide. In my grief I turned to him and I have been in his loving embrace ever since. I cannot imagine life without my God; it would be unlivable.

We can be true to Jesus, but sometimes it can happen that we stray and, due to the burden of sin, we feel the crushing weight of unworthiness. Still there remains a huge part of us that will not bear this separation. We will move mountains to restore our relationship, our communion with our Lord, because a life worth living is one that is permeated by God’s eternal love.