Hello,<\/p>\n
I’m 23 years old. The last few years of my life have been the hardest ones to date. I have lost my mother to cancer and my grandfather died too, both Christian. But my question is: How can I get back on track as a Christian myself? Due to the grief, I felt and other life events that have got in the way, I find myself becoming more and more distant from God. I feel like I repeat the same sins over and over and that my repentance lasts only a little while before I’m back to the same sins. I feel like there is a massive gap between the young man I was in the church, passionate for God, and the man I am now, angry all the time and letting little life pains get in the way of me, and trying to make it all better by sin. I know it’s wrong. I want to stop.<\/p>\n\t
I can’t offer an instant solution, but if you are willing to put effort into changing, it can be done. “For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death. For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner:\u00a0What diligence it produced in you<\/strong>, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication! In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter<\/em>” (II Corinthians 7:10-11).<\/p>\n A common trap offered by sin is that it can offer a solution to some problem; it never does. “And why not say, “Let us do evil that good may come”? –as we are slanderously reported and as some affirm that we say. Their condemnation is just<\/em>” (Romans 3:8). Sin only creates an illusion of comfort. It doesn’t last, it doesn’t improve anything, and while chasing after false hope the situation decays.<\/p>\n Anger is often the response people have in situations where they are trying to make things happen but they have no control. The real need is to separate what we can change, which mostly is ourselves, and what we cannot change. For example, sad though it is to lose loved ones to death, it isn’t something we can change. “And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment<\/em>” (Hebrews 9:27). Death is a consequence of living in this world. You can’t change the fact that they are gone, but you can change how you view your current life. It involves changing your focus from this present life to the life to come. “Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me<\/em>” (Philippians 4:11-13).<\/p>\n Closeness to God isn’t a feeling, but a choice to pursue God. “Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked<\/em>” (I John 2:3-6). The reason you feel more distant from God is that you know you are not walking after His ways.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: Hello, I’m 23 years old. The last few years of my life have been the hardest ones to date. I have lost my mother to cancer and my grandfather died too, both Christian. But my question is: How can I get back on track as a Christian myself? Due to the grief, I felt…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[1503,50,179],"class_list":["post-42736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-anger","tag-repentance","tag-sin"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5203,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-dont-seem-to-be-improving-what-can-i-do\/","url_meta":{"origin":42736,"position":0},"title":"I don’t seem to be improving. What can I do?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 29, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I\u2019ve been a Christian for about twenty years now and am a member of the church of Christ. I would appreciate if you could answer some questions and help me with some issues I am having. I\u2019ve been examining myself lately, and I realize that I am a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":38938,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-i-realize-that-i-had-sins-after-baptism-does-that-mean-i-need-to-be-baptized-again\/","url_meta":{"origin":42736,"position":1},"title":"If I realize that I had sins after baptism, does that mean I need to be baptized again?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 21, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, After spending most of my teenage and early adult life in the Baptist Church, I came upon the\u00a0Interactive Bible Study by Ronald Boatwright, which talked about how to be biblically saved.\u00a0I was actually baptized for the correct reason a few weeks ago. However, I've been wondering if I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":67702,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-feel-like-i-failed-god-and-he-is-angry-with-me\/","url_meta":{"origin":42736,"position":2},"title":"I feel like I failed God, and He is angry with me","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 19, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good day, I hope you are well. I love God, but I fear displeasing Him. I want to do right for Him. I'm a Christian. I am in my mid-twenties now. I was baptized at 12, but I got tangled in sin at 21 for about a year. I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":47934,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/with-all-the-sexual-sins-in-the-world-there-must-be-a-lot-of-people-in-hell\/","url_meta":{"origin":42736,"position":3},"title":"With all the sexual sins in the world, there must be a lot of people in hell","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 20, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I think there are many people who are sinners nowadays, since more and more people do not marry or are no longer virgins before marriage, and many people have sex with several people in their life. There are also more and more children born out of wedlock. Does\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":34500,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/ive-tried-to-get-out-of-homosexuality-several-times-but-i-keep-falling-back-into-it-i-feel-that-im-out-of-hope\/","url_meta":{"origin":42736,"position":4},"title":"I’ve tried to get out of homosexuality several times, but I keep falling back into it. I feel that I’m out of hope","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 26, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: As a young adult, I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Savior.\u00a0 I believe that Jesus paid for my sin on the cross and paid for by eternal salvation.\u00a0 Later I started living a homosexual life.\u00a0 I've tried many, many times to stop the homosexual life.\u00a0 Several different times,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":46977,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-keep-finding-sins-in-my-life-do-i-need-to-get-baptized-again\/","url_meta":{"origin":42736,"position":5},"title":"I keep finding sins in my life. Do I need to get baptized again?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 20, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Brother Hamilton, This has been bothering me for a while, so I am going to explain my situation. I was baptized as an infant and grew up knowing all about Jesus and what is expected of a Christian. However, as a young adult, after studying the Bible, I realized\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42736"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42736\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}