Why It Seems Hard to Stay Close to God Now
In today’s world, it can feel very hard for Christians to get close to God. Our culture is so busy and full of distractions that taking our spiritual life seriously is not easy. There are always new things coming at us—entertainment, news, problems—and it takes a strong mind and heart to push through all of it and focus on God.
One big problem Christians face today is something called a “numb conscience.” This means we stop feeling bad about things that are wrong. When someone goes against what is right over and over, it’s like their heart gets harder, and soon, they just don’t care anymore. At first, doing something wrong might make us feel guilty, but if we keep doing it, we get used to it and stop feeling anything. That’s dangerous, because it means we can do wrong and not even realize it.
Another problem is “spiritual laziness.” Even though we might be quick to worry about things like health, money, or problems in the world, we don’t often worry about our own spiritual health. We spend so much time on things that don’t matter in the long run, and we ignore what’s truly important—our relationship with God.
A wise Christian from the past, Thomas à Kempis, a Christian Theologian, said that people pay too much attention to things that don’t help them and ignore what really matters. This is true for many of us today. If we don’t wake up and realize what’s happening, we could spend our whole lives caught up in things that don’t really count.
These two issues—a numb conscience and spiritual laziness—are big dangers for Christians. They keep us away from God and make it hard to grow spiritually. The only way to fix this is to turn back to Jesus Christ and take our spiritual lives seriously. Only then can we overcome the problems of our culture and become the people God wants us to be.
Minister A Francine Green
September 2025
afrancinegreen.com 