Gain control of your life
But there is a way to gain control of your spiritual life! There is a way to make sure that you reach your spiritual potential.
First, quit blaming others. Realize that God gave you free moral agency, and nothing can take it from you. Your age, your education or lack of it, your job, your wife, your husband, your children, your boss or your minister cannot stand in your way.
You alone determine how much you pray. You alone determine how much time you spend in Bible study, how much you fast, how much you meditate and what good works you do.
Second, since God commands you to obey Him, realize that He will give you the ability to do just that if you truly want to.
Deuteronomy 30:19 says: "I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live."
How could God command you to "choose life" if He knew that circumstances would make it impossible for you to do so? The decision is truly up to you.
Next, realize that God does not just command you to seek His way, but commands you to run in the direction of righteousness. Many people meander along the spiritual road, blaming each person they come in contact with or each unfortunate circumstance that arises in their lives, picturing these obstacles as insurmountable boulders blocking their way.
But God tells us plainly that, once He has called us, His truth is right before us and can be acquired if we will only seek it.
"For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?
"Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it" (verses 11-14).
Seek God's way
Yes, in spite of the fact that men try to picture God's way as impossible to follow, the apostle Paul says plainly that we "should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us" (Acts 17:27).
And remember this: Once God has called you, the rest is in your hands. Yes, God must take the first step. We do not come to God because of some goodness or desire that we may have on our own. We must be called (John 6:44).
But once we are called by God, it is up to us.
Remember the story of the parable of the pounds. A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return. He delivered to his citizens money and hoped that they would trade with it to gain more for themselves and him. When he returned, he took account of his servants, "that he might know how much every man had gained by trading" (Luke 19:12-15).
The first man gained 10 pounds, and the second one five. But the third, who was fearful and made excuses, gained nothing for himself or his master. As a result the Lord was wroth and took from him even what he had.
The lesson for us is clear, if we will only hear it and heed. We are free moral agents. We can draw close to God if we truly want to. No excuse will justify our doing otherwise. God did not accept the excuse of the nobleman's fearful servant, and He will not accept ours, either.
What's your excuse?
So what's your reason? What's your excuse for not being closer to God?
Are you "too young"? Then read the story of the child Samuel in 1 Samuel 2, especially verse 26: "And the child Samuel grew on, and was in favor both with the Lord, and also with men." No, being too young is not a good excuse.
Are you "too old"? Then read of the prophetess Anna, who, though she was "of a great age," served God diligently (Luke 2:36-38).
Are you from a rough-and-tumble background, having spent many years using bad or foul language? Then you are in good company, for Isaiah also declared himself "a man of unclean lips" who dwelt "in the midst of a people of unclean lips" (Isa. 6:5). God used him, and you can be just as close to God as he was.
Are you too uneducated? Then take a place beside the prophet Jeremiah, who felt himself so inexperienced and untrained that he called himself "a child" in learning (Jer. 1:6).
Are you a poor speaker? Then sit beside God's powerful servant, Moses, who declared, "O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue" (Ex. 4:10).
Instead of relying on these or other excuses, remember Paul's admonition that nothing can separate us from God: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?" (Rom. 8:35).
No, these things cannot separate us from Christ. And neither can your mother-in-law, your parents, your children, your boss, your education, your age, your IQ, your height, your previous religion or your looks.
The way you can get close to God is the same way that David or Moses or the prophets did or Mr. Armstrong does. you must pray. you must study your Bible and fast. you must meditate, obey God and do good works. If you do these things, you will draw close to God. Nothing or no one can keep you from it. God promises that they who "hunger and thirst after righteousness . . . shall be filled" (Matt. 5:6).
God is merciful and loving. He wants us to be close to Him.
"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. "And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart" (Jer. 29: 11-13).
Nothing can separate you from God. Nothing but you.
What's your excuse?