There is a great song by Mark Shultz named “1,000 Miles” that I have been listening to recently.  It talks about how he would walk 1,000 miles, a gruelling trip, just to be with God.  It has a really profound message - he wants to be with God so much that he would go through something really hard just to be with him.  It is one of my favorite songs for that reason.

But if you think about it, wouldn’t each one of us, if presented with the chance, walk 1,000 if we knew that God was waiting at the end of the road?  I’m sure that the motivation of being close to our Creator would carry us past the temporary troubles of sore feet and tired legs, and help us to put our heads down and strive toward the finish.

If we got off the straight path that was laid out for us to travel, do you think that we would intentionally wander even farther off, until we didn’t even know where the original path was?  No!  As soon as we found ourselves off the right track, we would do everything within our power to get back on it, no matter how scratched and bruised we got in the process.  Nothing would get in the way of our reaching the final goal.

Some News

I have some sad news for you - a lot of Christians today aren’t striving to be close to God in their daily lives.  Some of them don’t really care, while others want to have a personal relationship, but just can’t seem to get their heads out of this sticky world we’re living in.

Now I have some surprising news for you - did you know that if you talked to almost any Christian and asked them if they would walk 1,000 miles to be with God, they would say yes?  You should be surprised.  A lot of them would walk 1,000 miles to be close to God without thinking about it, but they don’t seem to want to give up some time out of each day to achieve the same thing.

How About You?

How are you doing in your Christian life?  Are you on fire for God and seeking him every day with your whole heart, or are you like the Christians I mentioned earlier, and can’t seem to keep your focus on things above?

If you are the former, then I rejoice for you!  It is the most wonderful thing when you are on fire for God and drawing closer to Him every day.

If you are the latter, however, then I’m sorry that you aren’t as close to God as you would like.  The reason for not trying to draw close to God, or feeling to tired to do it, I think, is because you don’t have the same motivation as you would if you were walking 1,000 miles on a road with God at the end.  You can’t see the results of your morning devotions, so you only do them once in a while; you feel like you’re praying to the ceiling, so you only really do that at mealtimes, and you just don’t seem to be able to feel anything.

How do you get out of this pit of “nothingness”?  I think the answer is to look at the Christian walk in a different light.  Instead of thinking of morning devotions or prayer as just something you “have to do”, try thinking about them as stepping stones to the heart of God.  Each time you have a morning devotion, you learn something about God that you maybe didn’t know before.  Even if you already knew it, God has a way of giving new light to familiar verses, and you’ll be surprised at what He shows you.  When you pray, think yourself as entering into the presence of God with your request, and God giving you His whole attention.  God wants a personal relationship with you - He wants you to get to know Him, but you have to take the steps and let Him teach you.

Just like in the 1,000 mile walk, you need to have a vision of God in your life.  If you’re willing to walk 1,000 miles to be close to God, you should likewise strive to draw close to Him every day of your life.  Are you up to the challenge?