If you want newness in your life, you must make room for what you want to come into your life. If you're going to turn a page, do it cleanly and completely. That is, when you get to what you call the new, you must not hold on to any shadow of the old. Some can more easily than others turn life stories into history, whether it is with another person in a relationship, a job, even a house, etc., but these times come when pages must be turned, when new chapters need to start, and we may not right then be fully aware of the affection we have towards things that belong to a day passed. And that is a state of delusion: the failure to fully grasp what the new reality is and to embrace it while correctly placing in the past what belongs there (not trying to "save" what must be put behind). And this can happen even when the turn is fully within our control to make. Without effort or much thought, we can erect monuments or allow monuments to remain standing in our lives (for a memorial) that only takes space and to which we allow easy access to come and occupy our thoughts. That is disorder. Indeed, some have moving on down to a science and it may profit them well (unless it's about escaping responsibility), but some simply don't have it naturally to let things go and move on. To the latter, I want to encourage you to love the truth and to be quick to assess and acknowledge your reality, but not only that, to not waste time living in two worlds even passively. That is, you may not be actively or consciously looking towards the past from the point where you are in your life, but you allow things from your past to come pay your mind a visit for no useful purpose anytime they please. Yes, that is disorder. It takes some time to clean up space, whether it is physical or emotional space. It takes some time. But it's a job that needs to be done like any other job. It requires clarity on what is not in order and a determined effort to reach that state of order and readiness of the new space in your life for new things, new people and new experiences to come in.
All this may sound like plain wisdom of man minding earthly things, but that very same principle applies when one seeks the LIFE that includes God and that is from God. That way the Gospel lays out requires a turn, so a clearly marked turning point called repentance; it involves a call to be answered, a job to be done (e.g. opening your mouth to answer the call, then it requires that you walk the walk - no one walked your own walk for you), and then a moving on to the new can follow.
James 4:8
Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. (That is repentance.)
James 1:21-22
21 Therefore, putting away all filthiness and overflowing of wickedness [that's repentance], receive with humility the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. 22 But be doers of the word [that's faith], and not only hearers, deluding your own selves.
Mark 1:14-15
14 Now after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; **repent** and believe in the gospel.”
Acts 26:20
First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and then to the Gentiles, I preached that they should **repent and turn to God and demonstrate their repentance by their deeds.**
Let no one deceive you. You must prepare your heart for God. If you are going to be "reconciled" with someone, it cannot be without understanding of why a reconciliation is needed in the first place and the severity of the alienation/gap to be bridged. The Gospel opens the door to the reconciliation between God and man through Jesus' sacrifice. The issue is sin (Isaiah 59:2). Examine your heart and change your heart and He will receive you. You haven't received Jesus if you have not found Him worthy of receiving honor from you, of receiving love/obedience (John 14:15) from you. But He receives you, when you run to Him as the prodigal son did. Consider then the prodigal son's heart, his understanding of his choices and his circumstances and the hope He had that his father would receive him IF he turned his life around, IF he let go of many things that grieved his father, having a sincere regret for offending and dishonoring him. Something happened in that son's heart. He knew He did wrong and took responsibility for it. He had a moment of clarity on the things in his life that were only good to be thrown out. And he got up and said 'No more of that. I love my father. I will return to him and I will honor him.' Have you said no more of that life of sin alienated from Father God, in every way?
Read the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32) and meditate on it. Ponder on how it may be your life's story and what responsibility it lays on your conscience first and on your shoulders for what you will need to make decisions about concerning the present direction of your life. And in all things, put God first. He puts things in order!
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Luke 9:57-62
57 While they were walking along the road, a man told him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” 58 Jesus told him, “Foxes have holes and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to rest.” 59 He told another man, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” 60 But he told him, “Let the dead bury their own dead. But you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” 61 Still another man said, “I will follow you, Lord, but first let me say goodbye to those at home.” 62 Jesus told him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”
John 8:12
Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
John 14:5-6
5 Thomas asked him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” 6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
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See also:
Fish is meant to be caught
If you are in a big enough cage
Most of us want to make it on our own
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