God has plans for every single one of his children. However, He gives us free will, so we can make decisions on our own. As much as he doesn’t impose his love on us, he doesn’t impose his will.
Maybe you remember a time when you truly felt close to God and enjoyed the peace and joy your relationships with Him brought into your life. If you’re feeling that the closeness is starting to slip away and you don’t know what is causing this distance between you and God, you’re in the right place.
Of course, He has outrightly told us which are the things that distance us from him, but there are others we can find in the scriptures and our society.
This being said, here are ten things that are slowly pulling you away from God!
1. Faithlessness
As the Hebrews 11:6 verse states, it’s impossible to please God without faith because anyone who comes to him “must believe that he exists” and that he rewards those who genuinely seek him.
Being faithless brings displeasure to God, which is an ungodly treat. In fact, faithlessness is so ungodly that it can ruin our relationship with God. When we don’t have faith in Him, we can’t love or fellowship with Him.
Of course, having faith isn’t easy. But it’s necessary. When you’re faithless, you’re allowing the mountains to stand before you, distancing you from God. You can’t be His child if you don’t have faith and trust him.
2. Pride
The spirit of pride is another subtle thing that can pull you away from God. Pride means many things to us, all of which are negative. It can keep you stagnant, close your mind from learning, and most importantly, disrupt your connection with God.
The Bible says plenty of things about pride, but one of the most popular verses is found in Proverbs 16:18, which reads that pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit goes before a fall.
When you think you’re superior to others, it becomes impossible for anyone to get close to you. This can obviously spoil your relationships. Pride isn’t in the character of God; thus, it’s a sin and shouldn’t be in our character either.
So as we go about our day-to-day activities, it’s crucial to pay attention to yourself in order to know when pride is setting in. Why? It creeps in, even unconsciously.
3. Lukewarmness
One of the things that God dislikes the most is lukewarmness. This is because it’s a state of being neither hot nor cold nor here nor there.
Just like every other relationship you have, it’s essential to define your relationship with God as a Christian. Have you picked a side, or are you sitting on the fence? Are you for the world, or are you for God?
You can’t simultaneously be one leg in and one leg out, so you have to decide where you want to be. When you’re with Him, you shouldn’t be indecisive.
Lukewarm Christians are as dangerous to the body of Christ as they are dangerous to themselves.
4. Immorality
As Ephesians 5:3 teaches us, there must not be even a trace of immorality or any sort of “impurity or greed,” for there are improper things for God’s holy people.
It’s a guideline that things such as immorality shouldn’t be associated with children of God. Engaging in such behavior outside of marriage is distasteful to God and ungodly.
Scripture tells us that these kinds of intimate acts are meant for marriage and married people. This being said, people who haven’t been joined before God should do all that it takes to resist such temptation.
When we still succumb to the temptation, we walk in a rebellious and ungodly path in God’s eyes, which pulls us away from Him and His presence.
5. Judging one another
Another thing on the list of ungodly acts to avoid as Christians is being judgmental. Only God can judge anyone. We’re all humans and, thus, equal before God. So when we judge our fellows, we see ourselves as superior to them.
The only entity greater than all of us is God. Therefore, it’s not our place to judge, as only God has final judgments. “For in the same way you judge others, you’ll be judged,” teaches us Matthew 7:1-2.
Every one of us has flaws and has gone wrong one way or another. This being said, why should you judge someone when you’re dealing with your sins? No matter how bad we think of someone’s actions or words, let God do the judging, as He’s the only one without sin.
6. Unforgiveness
Unforgiveness basically stems from self-righteousness and ungodliness. It’s not just an ungodly act; it’s also a self-destructive one. It’s even more of an issue to you than it’s to the offender because you’ll be bitter alone.
Not forgiving is distasteful to God because He has forgiven us. If He can forgive you despite all your flaws, then why should you not forgive those who wrong you? So when you feel you can’t forgive someone, know that God disapproves of this act and that it’s ungodly behavior.
There are no exceptions when it comes to forgiveness, so no matter how hard it feels to forgive someone or how much a situation hurts you, learn to let it go and forgive those who brought that pain to you.
7. Unfruitfulness
When Jesus saw a barren fig tree, he got upset and cursed it. A tree that doesn’t produce fruit is useless and would be taken down.
In other words, the consequence of being unfruitful is being cut down. God has provided all the resources needed for you to produce, and we refuse to be faithful in return. It’s similar to the servants in the Bible who were given talents.
Those who valued the talents they were given put them to good use and doubled them. But the servant who refused to be productive and fruitful was cast out by the master. This being said, it is an ungodly thing to be in Christ and be fruitless and unproductive.
8. Idleness
An idle mind is the devil’s workshop. This is because the devil will constantly plant evil thoughts and seeds in a person. And it won’t be long until these seeds germinate and the thoughts materialize.
As Proverbs 24:30–31 tells us, a vineyard where thorns are everywhere, where the ground is covered with weeds, and the stone wall is in ruins could only belong to someone who has no sense.
The yard is your mind, while the weed represents your evil thoughts. If you remain idle and sluggard and refuse to work on your mind to be productive, evil thoughts will inevitably cross your mind.
9. Temptations and distractions
In our Christian journey, we must know our weaknesses and strengths. When we know this, we know what we should avoid as Christians. It would help you to know when and where to draw the line in ugly situations.
As children of God, many temptations and distractions will come our way because the devil doesn’t want us on the right path. However, sometimes we put ourselves in vulnerable positions to get distracted and tempted, which is why you need to always be on guard.
There are things you can do to stay away from unnecessary temptation because, in many situations, it can be avoided. You can do this if you spend quality time with God every day and look into understanding your weaknesses.
We’re all different, so we’re distracted in different ways and tempted by different things. For example, your struggle may be pride, while another person’s struggle is lust.
How to avoid falling prey to temptation is different for both people. Therefore, you have to find what works for you to overcome every temptation you may come across.
10. Procrastination
The “I’ll do it later” mindset called procrastination is one of the unholy things to avoid as a Christian. This is something very common, and many people think this way daily without realizing that it’s not like God to procrastinate.
Let’s put it another way: imagine God saying to himself, “Nah, I’ll do this later,” when it was to create us. Would we have been here? How about if God keeps putting off our blessings for a later time? What would become of us?
So also, if you procrastinate, you can disrupt the things that would bless you. Always keep in mind that doing that is not like God, and so to be truly Godly, procrastination should be out of your character.
You may also want to read 10 Things the Bible Teaches Us About Forgiveness.
