A couple of weeks ago my wife and I went up a mountain trail to view a particular waterfall. There was a platform across from the falls which had a railing surrounding it. Some individuals had carved their initials on that railing and one in particular drew my attention. It had 2 names inside of a heart and the word “forever” was added below it. It wasn’t really fresh, so I thought, “I wonder if they are even still together now”?

The truth is that there are many people who make commitments for a lasting relationship who end up over time not being in a relationship at all.

There are those who say that they want to be in a lasting relationship only to change his or her mind sometime in the future.

When God, through Jesus, desires a relationship with humanity, He makes it very clear that He intends to make it a forever one. He is not going to walk away from His commitment and change the love He has for us as believers. The Lord confirms this in Jeremiah 31:3 where He says, “I have loved you with an everlasting love”, and again in Hebrews 13:5 where He says, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you”.

We all have a free will, so that means that we can walk away from our relationship with God. This is where the statement, “If you feel far away from God, guess who moved” can find meaning. But the truth is that our God is waiting with open arms to the prodigal son or daughter who chooses to stray away.

As I think about all of this, I have the same attitude that the Apostle Peter had when many of Christ’s followers chose to no longer follow Him in John 6. He stated, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”