Remember and Turn Back

Jesus knows the condition of our heart. He knows where we are in our relationship with Him. Regardless of how you may be fooling yourself and/or others, Christ knows.

“⁴But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.” – Revelation 2:4 (ESV)

Even as He does know the current condition of our heart, Jesus also knows where we were at one point and that we do have the capacity to get back there. It is however a conscious decision to turn back to Him and get right in our following of the LORD.

“²I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. ³I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary.” – Revelation 2:2-3 (ESV)

We know where we were. We know that we are sinners and were without salvation at one time. We accepted the gift of salvation that was give by Christ and progressed doing the work the LORD had for us. And then, as noted in verse four above, we see that we have fallen away from that work. We turned away from the LORD, maybe not consciously, but turned away none the less.

“⁵Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first.” – Revelation 2:5a (ESV)

This is where we are, we need to get back to our communion with the LORD. We need to re-engage with Him and find our way back to Him. We need to get back to where we were at first. Back to endurance, back to calling out evil, back to recognizing and calling our the false, and back to acting and doing the name of Jesus. We have turned away and abandoned the LORD, now is our time to turn back to Him and get back to work spreading His Word, the gospel, to all the world.

Where are you in your relationship with the LORD? Have you turned away and toward yourself? What if you remembered and turn back to Jesus and begin again doing the works you did when you first came to know Him?

Seek the LORD Again

I will disobey the LORD. There, I said it. I have to remind myself daily that this is going to happen. And I am not alone and it has been this way since Adam and Eve in the garden.

This morning I was reminded this form the passage I am in from Deuteronomy. I am in chapter 4 with all of the commands and calls for obedience. I see that the people were given instruction to not worship idols, and if they did, they would be driven across the land and perish. There they would continue to worship idols.

“²⁶I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that you will soon utterly perish from the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess. You will not live long in it, but will be utterly destroyed. ²⁷And the Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the Lord will drive you. ²⁸And there you will serve gods of wood and stone, the work of human hands, that neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.” – Deuteronomy 4:26-28 (ESV)

See that in worshiping idols away from the land they were promised yields nothing for them. These idols do nothing for the people. They are left to doing things on their own and realize that it is the LORD who was providing for them and not the idols they were worshiping. So, they turn back to the LORD.

“²⁹But from there you will seek the Lord your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul. ³⁰When you are in tribulation, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, you will return to the Lord your God and obey his voice.” – Deuteronomy 4:29-30 (ESV)

The same can be and is available for me. I will disobey the LORD. But, I have the opportunity to turn back to and obey Him. I will sin and yet He is there waiting for me to repent and turn back to Him where He accepts me with open arms.

“³¹For the Lord your God is a merciful God. He will not leave you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers that he swore to them.” – Deuteronomy 4:31 (ESV)

I have to admit that I will disobey the LORD. I also have to remember that He knows and will wait on me to realize my disobedience and repent and return to Him. I will seek Him again and He is ready for my return.

What are your thoughts on disobeying the LORD? Are you willing to admit it and are you worried you can’t come back from that disobedience? What if you realized that you will disobey and know that you can come back through realizing, repenting, and seeking the LORD once again?

Repent and the LORD Remembers

The LORD will act accordingly when we spurn Him. When I walk contrary to Him, He will walk contrary to me. After all, that is me not wanting or seeing the value in Him, so why should He want or see the value in me. But, what happens when I repent and come back to Him?

“⁴⁰But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers in their treachery that they committed against me, and also in walking contrary to me, ⁴¹so that I walked contrary to them and brought them into the land of their enemies—if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled and they make amends for their iniquity, ⁴²then I will remember my covenant with Jacob, and I will remember my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land.” – Leviticus 26:40-42 (ESV)

I will spurn the LORD and walk contrary to Him. And He will walk contrary to me in discipline to me. I deserve it all. But, He is waiting on my to turn back to Him. He is waiting for me to humble myself in the heart and “make amends” to where I hurt Him. When I do, He remembers the covenant He has in place with those who came before me.

This passage is of course well before the coming of Christ and His death, burial, and resurrection for my sins. It does though demonstrate that the LORD is waiting on me to come back to Him. He, even in my contrary walk with Him, is still with me. He is there to ensure that the discipline I face is for the turning away from Him, but He is still there waiting.

“¹³For ‘everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’” – Romans 10:13 (ESV)

When I call on His name, He remembers and turns back to me to protect, comfort, and love me.

What is your view of turning back to God? Are you aware that He is just waiting for you? What if you were to repent and turn back to Him, call on Him and bask in His remembrance of the love He has for you?