01/19/2026
Listen... do you hear the voice of Jesus? Are you hearing Him calling you to “come” or is He asking for you to “come back!”? When Jesus first calls us He gives us incredible peace, rest, and spiritual lives, but over time we might feel that those things have subsided in us; why is that? Why do we lose the intensity of joy and faith that our initial answer to His call brought us?
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
Matthew 11:28 ESV
When we first answer the call to faith the experience is intense, and the rest it provides us is deep and nourishing, but as time goes by the fullness of this feeling might subside, and if so we could find that we are left asking ourselves “is this normal?” The answer that too many people feel is true when they are going through a season of withering is normal. Although this happens so frequently that some would say it is normal, it is not. It is not what was promised, nor intended. We haven’t been given a portion of spiritual food to lure us into a relationship with God only to have it taken back once we have tasted it. God will not substitute His promoises for something less.
“But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted!”
John 15:7 NLT
Although important, the key to our faith isn’t in finding it, the key is to remain completely in it; to possess it as our own from that moment of awakening and realization forward. I used the New Living Translation of John 15:7, but in many others the word translated here as “remain” reads “abide.” Both words convey a sense of permanence. We are told to make this our primary residence... not a vacation home that we visit on occasion. Or a small portion of our heavenly meal of life.
The sad truth is that many of us treat the gifts of our faith as though they are not permanent, that they aren’t the main course of our meal, but just a spice or perhaps a wonderfully tasty side item. We revel in Christ and the life He provides, and then we busy ourselves at trying to make it fit into our prior worldly life... our old meal plan. We take the bulk of our old life and place it central on our plate then put a dollop of belief beside it and sprinkle a little prayer over it. Then, we wonder why we don’t feel the same way we did the moment we first believed.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”
2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV
Our faith isn’t meant to be secondary to the world around us. We are told to become new beings, a new creation, and yet here we are... trying to place a dab of our newly found belief beside an entree of our old life and then wondering what happened to the wonderful meal we had tasted during our earlier conversion. The richness of our spiritual meal has now been watered down and as a result our spirit’s palate is left wanting and unsatisfied.
This isn’t new today... Jesus saw it happening during His lifetime on earth. He spoke to this in no uncertain terms. Are we familiar with His words that related our faiths to taste, and to one of the most basic flavorings?
“"You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet.”
Matthew 5:13 ESV
When we take our faith (our salt) and sprinkle it sparingly over the old life we were once living we are taking the saltiness out of it, and what we are left with is bland and distasteful to God. We are given another such scripture to reinforce this notion and once again the mouth becomes a means of conveying the message...
“So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.”
Revelation 3:16 ESV
So, when we accept Jesus as our savior, and God as our Lord… the one True God… then we are meant to change completely and permanently. Our faith is not an experience, and it is not a part of the world and life we were once living there... it has become something new, it becomes who we are now, and the complete meal of which we partake. We are to remain in Christ, and the world we once knew is meant to go away. Listen to John as he writes:
“For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.”
1 John 2:16-17 ESV
When we come to realize that the feeling of our first encounter with Jesus and the Peace, Joy, and Rest we felt in Him then has now subsided, then we have placed Him somewhere other than first in our lives. We have become lukewarm, lost our saltiness, placed our old lives back in the center of our plates, taken our old lives and attempted to sprinkle a little salt over them, and wrongfully called the old man righteous.
But fear not because we can return to Him. We can hear Him call “come back!” And scrape the tainted food from our plates and go home to His feast; we are prodigal sons and daughters and are hungry for our Father’s table. Is this you today? Are you ready to humble yourself and return home?
“"But when he came to himself, he said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you.”
Luke 15:17-18 ESV
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for making me new, and for the wonderful meal you set before me on that day. I thank you for the Peace, Joy, and Rest that I feel when I abide in your Son Jesus Christ... and He in you. Never let me lose my saltiness Father or become lukewarm in your mouth. Let the taste of my faith please you always, and may I likewise dine at your table forevermore. Teach me Lord what it means to place you before all things and chide me when I glance back from whence I have come or attempt to hold onto those worldly things. You desire that I become a new creature, so I ask that you keep me in your oven until I am well done and acceptable to you... risen into a loaf that is useful to you and your table. Let me be smooth in your hand and incapable of tainting even a grain of salt on your plate. Holy Father I long to join you, and to dine with you... but even if I must take the crumbs that fall, I will praise you for them and savor their goodness. Great are you Father, and sweet is your mercy and grace that called me to you through Jesus and keeps me there to this day.
Amen!
Rich Forbes