As people were flowing into the church service, Lamar walked to the side of the church where there was a picnic table. He sat down wanting to reflect on his walk with God. The picnic table was where he sat down with a friend three years ago after a church service, and asked Jesus into his heart as they prayed together.
When Lamar had first come to Christ, it was like someone turned on the lights inside his soul. To him it seemed like he had been blind all his life, and was seeing the world for the first time, only through God‘s eyes! And the feeling he felt from within himself was almost indescribable compared to anything he had ever experienced. The weight of his sin was lifted. He felt clean. Alive. Hungry for truth. He couldn’t wait for Sunday services. He devoured scripture like a starving man. Worship made him weep. People told him he seemed like a different person—and he was. He had been born again.
That first year, Lamar changed. He stopped sleeping around. He gave up drinking, drugs, and cursing. He made things right with his dad. God had gripped his heart and was shaping him into someone new.
But as years passed, life got busy. First, he got promoted. Then came a girlfriend who said she was a Christian but didn’t really care for church. Weekends filled up. Bible time turned into “when I get to it.” One day, he skipped church for a cabin trip. Then another. Then another. Slowly, he found himself saying things like “God knows my heart” or “It’s not about religion, it’s about relationship,” even though he knew he was neglecting the relationship.
He wasn’t trying to walk away. But the world had a way of whispering him back. Parties, shows, the desire to fit in, to relax, to not feel “so intense” all the time. He told himself he was still a Christian—and he was—but something had shifted.
This was the luring.
It wasn’t dramatic. No great fall from grace. Just a thousand little compromises that made him feel more normal… and less close to God (though he continually tried to deny it as he frequently debated with himself about it.) And now, three years later, here he sat at the same picnic table where he gave his life to God. He still believed. Still occasionally prayed. He was still able to say the right things around Christian and not-so-Christian friends, but was feeling distant, spiritually dry, and a little numb.
And yet today… something stirred.
He had come to church for the first time in months. He sat in the back watching a young man get water baptized, weeping with joy. The pastor said something simple: “Salvation is free. Following Jesus costs you EVERYTHINGGGG! But it’s worth it.”
That line hit Lamar like a bolt of lightning.
He stepped outside before the service ended, overcome by a longing he hadn’t felt in years. And at the picnic table, he heard the Lord’s whisper—not angry, not scolding, but tender:
“Pick up your cross again, Lamar. Come walk with Me.”
Lamar bowed his head and let the tears fall.
This was the beginning of surrender.
Not a flash of emotion, but a decision. A daily choice to deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Jesus—not just in theory, but in action. To get back in the Word. To make time for prayer. To cut out the habits and influences that numbed his soul. To stop blending in and start standing out—not with pride, but with humble obedience.
That moment didn’t fix everything. But it rekindled the fire.
And that’s what so many believers need to know: this journey has phases.
First, there’s the Awakening: When God opens the eyes of your heart and draws you in.
Then there’s the Luring: When the devil uses the world to try to pull you back, incrementally, and subtly until he has numbed your love, hunger, and desire for God.
Then there’s the Surrender… When you choose, with eyes wide open, to make Jesus not just your Savior, but your Lord.
If you find yourself somewhere in this story—especially in the second phase—don’t lose heart. You’re not disqualified. You’re not too far gone. But the time to return is now. Pick up your cross. Realign your life. Surrender again.
Because He’s still calling, and for now, you are still able to hear Him!
Revelation 3:20 (NKJV) Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.
