33 years

Can you believe that today is the 33rd anniversary of when I came to know Jesus as my Savior? I had planned on writing something about being grateful that He was there for me in the hospital, only to find out that I already had....http://1ncisfan.blogspot.com/2010/07/salvation-how-it-helps-in-hospital.html

But a verse that I'm thinking of on this day is Numbers 23:19- 
“God is not a man, that He should lie,
Nor a son of man, that He should repent.
Has He said, and will He not do?
Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?

The reason that I think of Numbers 23:19 is because of "The Fat Man" (my nickname for my sinful nature and the subject of a couple of my blog entries). With many of us, when someone disappoints us or does something to hurt us, it usually takes a while for them to forgive us (if they do) and to restore fellowship with us. And sometimes that restoration seems to be conditional...But in this verse, we read that God is not like us and that is the greatest thing to think about in our relationship to Him. 

Because we KNOW that we are going to fail Him, sometimes as early in the day as a couple of minutes after we get up in the morning, but unlike us when we ask forgiveness, as he tells us in 1 John 1:9-
"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
And when we do, the restoration comes and the relationship that we have with God is made whole again.  I know the danger is (and it has been discussed by minds greater than my own) that we abuse this privilege, by just asking forgiveness and then moving on like nothing happened. But if we truly love God and don't want to do things that hurt him, asking for forgiveness is not just a "get out of jail free" card, but rather should be a starting point for us to reform our lives and making it more like what the Lord wants it to be.

 Isn't that what being in a relationship is all about (being single, I've never really been in a relationship [therefore the question])? In a relationship, when it is restored (whether it be friendship or marriage), shouldn't the goal then be to improve it and make it better? And we, whether single or married, young or old, whatever our state may be are in the greatest relationship of all-a relationship with the Lord Jesus-so shouldn't we make it our goal to make that relationship the best that we can make it? I know in 33 years, mine hasn't always been the best, but hopefully it's one that reflects the verse that I chose years ago as my life verse-Philippians 3:14-"
¹⁴ I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."