Lost Interest In God?

Let us talk about interests today. We all have interest, hobbies or things we like to do. However, we may also find that our interest can often change from one thing to another, or that same interest could die off after a while. I love hand-drawing bible verse cards for a good few years now, but I realised these few months that I seem to have zero interest in picking up that paintbrush or have any inspiration to create new designs. It is like I always cannot commit to just one interest for a long time. Do you have moments like that too? An interest that is fading away? I think when it comes to our relationship with God and our faith, it can very often be like this. We started off with that spiritual thirst, curiosity and anticipation for the Lord’s works in our lives, attentiveness to listen to sermons, take notes, read the Bible or pray daily. But we start to lose the drive or motivation after a while. There could be so many reasons for it. Maybe it is some long unanswered prayers that made us feel disappointed. Perhaps we feel so saturated by the same kind of sermons. There may be temptations that come your way, or life has been stagnant and you feel numb and so on. Now a little self reflection won’t take you too long to find out that you have lost interest or that initial passion in faith and for Christ.

Now, this reminds me a lot about the Parable of the Sower. When we lose interest in God, we could be on the grounds of either 3 of the undesirable soils. I mean, we are living in a fallen world with traps laid everywhere to distract, dishearten or make us doubtful when the going gets tough. If you read in Matthew 13:3-9, we will know that, we too, want to be that good soil but at times, we might be the ground that is the path, only listening but never really understanding God’s words or applying it to our lives, so our faith easily gets shaken. Or we could be the rocky ground, initially we take in the Word so well, but we fail to commit in trust and obedience when difficult times come by so we fall away into solutions of the world or other channels to rely on. Then we could also be the thorny bushes, choked up by the cares of the world like what people think about us, some worries or chasing some form of materialism and self glorification. So let us introspect, if we have lost interest in God, which of the grounds are we currently at? What fuelled and bred our disinterest? Now, it is not just important to be aware of this state of heart but also if left unattended, how it could affect us deeply in our faith walk.If we realise we have lost interest in God, the first thing to do right now, is not to let it run its course because it rarely does. Do not see it “just another phase” because Satan can use it to grow, manifest and flow into other parts of our lives. If we just pray to God or serve in church, neglecting the need to get to the bottom of our disinterest in God or all things about faith, then we will slowly become all about works and no heart. Instead of seeing things from the view of loving our brethren, we may start to get frustrated and critical about things from our own standards. Our prayers become lifeless and ritualistic. And things that should not matter to us, start to bother us a great deal.

Now actually, all in all, our disinterest really comes from some form of lack in understanding God’s character and His heart. Knowing God’s plans, timing and power may have gotten lost in the way as we move through seasons of our lives.

So how do we regain that interest in God? Become the good soil?

Firstly, let us not be feeling down that we have lost that initial interest for God because it is not necessarily a bad thing. The fact that we realise it and see a need to look into it itself is a sign of God’s grace and intervention. At times, God may allow us to stray so that we can experience discernment and personal “investigation of the truth” in our hearts, so that we can come back to the fold with stronger roots after establishing in ourselves that God is in and above all things. That was what happened with David, with Jonah, with Lot and with us as well. They saw the judgment and mercy of God that is exercised in their own lives. And in David’s context, after he saw that impact of His sin, what did he do? He pleaded with God for forgiveness and to restore in him a new heart. As it says in Psalm 51:10-12, “Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me. Do not banish me from your presence, and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you.” So a good place to start if your faith has grown cold is to take time to pray objectively on those areas that have drifted you from God. In this way, you reflect as well, and experience the grace of casting your burdens to the Lord.

An intentional involvement with God

Next, it is really easy to agree with Christ with no intention of obeying. It is easy to denounce our worries of this life, deceitfulness of wealth, proclaim our weaknesses away, and still do nothing to change our old ways. So in the light of eternal life with God, we must ask ourselves: Are our current worries, goals or desires justified? If we could have all the things that interest us more than God now, but forfeited our eternal life and unshaken assurance in Him, would those things still be so desirable in this short time span in this world? Without an intentional and consistent involvement with God, we will not have the spiritual alertness to reflect on these things or be guarded against them. As 2 Chronicles 16:9 says, “For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.”

So the first step to gaining back interest in God is to commit ourselves to discover His heart in any given matter, not just the texts in the bible or the subjective side of a situation. When we read the bible, what is God bringing out in this person’s life? What does it show about God’s character? When a problem pops us, why would God allow this at this timing? When we have long-standing issues, what is it that God wants to reveal to me that I have yet seen or submitted to? We are not interested because we do not realise there are important messages and lessons all throughout our course of life that God is using to polish our understanding of His good will and concerns. When we get polished and match our understanding more and more to knowing God’s heartbeat, instead of being bored and unmoved in our faith, we will be more stirred up as we see how God is truly living and active. Not just a stale explanation from some bible context or a sermon. Your faith becomes real and vibrant.

Extend out to witness God’s works beyond self

Finally, no matter what, God does not want us to keep to ourselves, even if we are becoming more and more like the good soil. Surely, God would want us to join Him in yielding great crops of faith in others as well. So the way our focus and perspective in God remains rooted and strong is when we go beyond our own experiences and stories, to witness God’s works in others and for them. What I mean is that all by ourselves, we can grow in the Lord, but to really see the magnitude of God’s creativity and power, we need to extend out to minister and be mutually edified by the people God placed around us. Colossians 3:16, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” Whether it is our fellow church brethren or people who need the Word, they help us to put the Word we know in practice, test and approve it in different situations and people’s lives. As we keep going back to knowing God’s character, meet Him in all our concerns or as we minister to others, there will be lesser space in our hearts to lose interest in God but more capacity to discover Him and grow our faith. May we never lose our sense of wonder for our wonderful God. God bless.