My Friend Chad

Recently I saw a friend of mine named Chad go through a rough time. His family was falling apart because of some of the circumstances he himself had created. It was horrible to watch the domino effect that Chad’s decisions had upon the lives and hearts of the people he loves the most. As I tried to console some of the family members, the question of “why” always seemed to find its way into our conversations. The longer I contemplated my friend’s surprising actions, the more God began to peel back the layers of emotion and reveal the truth about the situation to me.

God showed me the signs that preceded this fall. Chad hadn’t been as active in church as before. Things we talked about in our visits together were more focused on money and other topics rather than the things of God. Chad had distanced himself from some very close friends, he seemed unhappy and harder to talk to. All of these things pointed to the fact that Chad was not where he should be with God. His spiritual relationship with his Heavenly Father had changed. Now, this part I’m sure of, Chad had done the changing, not God.

I realized that all the controversy, confusion, and questions that surrounded this event all came down to something spiritual. It all came down to the verse that says if we will draw near to Him, He will draw near to us (James 4:8). Somewhere Chad had stopped drawing near to God and started drawing near to other things. God doesn’t force Himself on us, it is our choice to let Him in. When we draw near to Him, we are drawing nearer to love, joy, peace, comfort, strength, and provision. The farther we are away from Him, the farther away we are from all of that.

As I continue to pray for Chad, I have been encouraging his family to draw nearer to Jesus through this unfortunate experience. They will be drawing nearer to the answer and to all the good that God is. We can get closer to Him through prayer, reading His Word, or through my personal favorite, praise and worship. Draw nearer! 

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