“My dear friends, if you know people who have wandered off from God’s truth, don’t write them off. Go after them. Get them back and you will have rescued precious lives from destruction and prevented an epidemic of wandering away from God.”

James 5:19-20 MSG.

Being a Christian isn’t always easy. You’re going to have days when your flesh is screaming at you to go back to the person you used to be so you can vent, blow up, and spew the awful things floating around in the cesspool of your fleshly mind at the people who hurt you.

Perhaps, you’ve done that very thing. Maybe you’ve messed up and wandered away from God because you’re not sure He will want you back after you acted that way.

Or maybe you’ve wandered away from God because you’ve seen how some churchgoers have acted. You’ve heard what they said. It wasn’t pretty. Perhaps you’ve reasoned that if that’s the way Christians act, you don’t want to be one.

Perhaps you’ve wandered away from God because you’ve suffered a devastating blow, one you don’t understand, and you’re mad at Him. So, you carry the pain close as you push Him away.

Oh, precious soul, God hurts when you hurt. He doesn’t want you to walk alone. He has much more for you than a miserable existence or one where you’re “just getting by” or “hanging on by a thread.”

When you wander away from God, it’s your choice. He’s not going to tackle you and force you to love Him.

But know this: When you wander away from God, the enemy sees that too. When you isolate yourself from God and other believers, you’re like the lone wildebeest the lion targets.

Of course, people will let you down whether they’re Christians or not. Let God handle that. Sometimes the flesh wins out, and people do the wrong thing. They make bad choices.

Like wandering away from God when life hurts.

Oh, dear soul. Look around. The world is pulling away from God, and it will drag anyone willing to follow. It offers hollow promises to those willing to listen.

God offers you truth and hope for eternal life through His Son, Jesus Christ.

So, if you’ve wandered away from God, turn back to Him and tell Him you’re sorry and watch and see how quickly He runs to you to take you in His arms.

And once you’ve returned to Him, you can snatch others from the fire and encourage those who’ve lost hope and have wandered away.

God has been watching and waiting for His children to return. He wants them to return to Him, to His Son, Jesus Christ, before HIS return.

God wants eternal life for ALL His children, even those who once wandered away.