I’m always looking for an easy return.

I have a tape measure in our cottage that doesn’t return very easily. You have to tug hard to pull it out and then you have to push it back in. I want to throw it out and get a tape measure that will easily return after I extend it to measure something. 

So often we want an easy return. 

When you buy something that isn’t quite right, you want to be able to return it to the store for an exchange or refund … and you want that process to go smoothly.

It wasn’t always easy to return items. At one time, when you bought something, the store had no responsibility for it unless it was defective. Only then could you return it. 

If you bought something and the colour didn’t match, or it wasn’t the right thing after all, those were not grounds for returning it. You made the decision to purchase it, and it was yours – period. 

There were no easy returns. 

Something changed along the way, however, to the point that almost everything has become easily returnable. 

Recently I returned an item twice to a store before I got the right size. Both times it was an easy return – no questions asked. (Read about that here.)

There are some things that return so easily that you actually have to work hard to keep them from returning. 

I grew up playing with yo-yos. I still toss one from time to time. In fact, when I see one on a store shelf, I have a hard time resisting the temptation to pick it up and give it a toss.

When I see a child with a yo-yo, it’s all I can do to restrain myself from saying, “Here, give it to me and I’ll show you how it works.”

You see, the thing about yo-yos is that they are designed to return. But to be able to do tricks and to yo properly, you have to train it to sleep. 

Sleeping is basically delaying its return, making it spin out on the end of the string, so that you can perform some magical formations with that string. 

It takes training to learn how to do it. 

Nowadays you can buy a yo-yo that has a clutch built into it that will make it automatically sleep. But with a real yo-yo, if you place it in someone’s hand and they throw it down, it will automatically return. 

It’s just that easy. 

Here’s the thing: Do you realize how easy it is to return to God? I believe some of us think, or have trained ourselves to think, that it’s hard or difficult. The fact is that it’s easy to return to God; we’re designed for it. If you look at the Bible, the Old Testament is filled with page after page of examples where it was easy for people to return to God. He makes it easy. God is so patient and so eager that we return to Him, He sent His Son Jesus to make it easy for us. When you sin, don’t train yourself or fool yourself into thinking it’s too hard to return to Christ. It is easy – just humble yourself and return. He’s waiting. It really is just that easy.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: When have you found it difficult to return to God? Leave your comments below.