Have you wondered away?

I have spent years in church hearing how people WANDER away from God. I've always thought a more accurate description would be to WONDER away from God. To wander implies you just blindly roam around and you aren't sure where you're headed. In most cases, our sins don't really happen that way. Many times, we get ourselves into trouble because we WONDERED away from God: I wonder what it would be like to try that (whatever IT is)? I wonder if anyone would find out if I just ______________ (fill in the blank)? I wonder if I'm missing out on fun trying to be "good"? I wonder what a new adventure would be like (even though I know it's not pleasing to God)? It's not that we tend to guess our way through life with no (moral) compass or direction. More often than not, we gave our thoughts over to wondering what it would be like to live someone else's life, wondering what if we could secretly date some movie star or singer, or wondering what it would be like to take something that wasn't ours. The problem with all this is that once we "wonder away" we find ourselves just like Adam and Eve in the garden when they they knew they had sinned and God was calling asking where they were. They did what we tend to do, they hid. We often find ourselves trying to hide from God when we know we did the wrong thing. It's in our nature. Just like a child hides from a parent so they don't get caught. Why do we try to hide from God? Do we really think he doesn't already know what happened? Do we think we can pretend it never happened? Do we expect him to believe some lie we would tell others to hide the truth? It doesn't make logical sense, but we do it anyway. The fact of the matter is that we don't have to hide, but we do need to take ownership of what we've done. We need to go to God, confess what we did even though he already knows. It's for OUR benefit to confess, not his. Then we need to really be sorry or repentant about it - not because we got caught, that isn't repentance. We need to think about what we did, admit that we knew it was wrong, admit that we chose our own selfish desires over God's ways, and realize that his way would've been the right and better thing to do. After that, God promises to forgive us. Jesus already paid the price for ALL sins, so there doesn't need to be any fear behind our confession. God wants nothing more than to restore us to a healthy, loving relationship with us. If we ever feel like something has come between us, it's usually because WE messed up, or we didn't get OUR way. God loves you unconditionally, all the time, and that NEVER changes. He promises he'll never abandon you. Want to fix your relationship with God? Take ownership of your sin, admit, repent, and be forgiven. Then you can enter into a new chapter of your walk with God, a transparent, loving relationship with the One who is Lord of all, and you, his child he loves dearly.