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Isn't it such an annoying feeling when we lose something? It might only be fifty pence, or it might be something a bit more crucial like our mobile or our house keys. Whether it's a small or a large item that we've lost, have you noticed how our minds keep going back over and over again to that lost thing, trying to figure out where it has gone or where we could have put it?
When
it comes to lost stuff, the solution in the end is relatively simple.
Either we find it after a lot of searching, or we claim on the
insurance or we replace it at our own expense.
But what about lost friendships? Things get more complicated now, because the human heart feels this sort of thing very deeply. Sometimes we experience emptiness in our lives due to the death of a loved one.
Another
time there is a blow-up between friends and that friendship is lost
to both parties, with the resulting pain of a broken relationship.
The pain can be even more devastating when families fall apart.
But there's one really important relationship that every one of us has lost. Tragically, these days a lot of people don't even realise they've lost it, but trying to live life without it is the cause of so much despair, purposelessness and wandering round in the dark. What are we talking about? The friendship which mankind had with their Father God when He first created them.
Do you know that each one of us was created to enjoy a close relationship with God? Do you know that the God of the Bible has gone to incredible lengths to restore that friendship? But He won't force His solution on us – there's no point in doing that if we don't want to know. He waits until we come to our senses and are willing to listen to Him.
On
one occasion Jesus described God as a father who was watching and
waiting for one of his sons to come home. This son had not been sent
on an errand, or gone away to university or taken a highly paid job
in another town. No, he was a son who had asked for his share of the
family's wealth before his father had died.
Not only had he decided to live as if his dad was already dead but when he received his share, he left home at once and squandered the lot in a very short time. Yet his father longed for the day when his son would come to his senses and realise that his dad was still alive and still loved him as much as he ever did. With that hope, the father watched every day for his son to come home.
The God we are talking about has promised that if we seek Him with all our hearts, then He will make sure that we find Him. Do you ever find yourself feeling a gap in your inner self, as if you've lost something but you don't even know what it is? Could it be time for you to start looking for that lost friendship?
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All written material in this section is copyright © Randall & Mary Hardy, 2015.
