"It's My Fault."

I recently had the thought that Simba's life could be a reflection of our spiritual journey, and while that thought isn't quite complete enough to blog about yet, I would like to blog about a part of it.

Missing his dead father, Mufasa, Simba shouts at the sky in anger, then weeps in despair, "You said you'd always be there for me! But you're not, and it's because of me. It's my fault. It's my fault." But the thing is, it's not his fault. Simba is not responsible for his fathers death, as he had been led to believe. Yet, this unwarranted feeling of guilt sheds some interesting light on our own situations.

Like Simba, we too are currently separated from our Father, and like Simba, we are not entirely at fault for that separation, but unlike Simba, we are partly at fault for any distance that may exist between us and our Father in Heaven. To be specific, it's not our fault that we're separated from God physically, but it is (at least partly) our fault if we're separated from God spiritually.

Our physical separation from God isn't anything for which we need to feel guilty. It's all part of the plan. We had to be born onto Earth, and God had to remain in Heaven. Even Jesus had to experience this separation while He lived on Earth. It isn't anybody's fault.

But spiritual separation is. Our sins cause us to distance ourselves from God spiritually, and while I would like to blame the adversary for tempting us to drift away from God, it's still mostly (if not entirely) our fault if we give in to those temptations. We are the ones who ultimately choose how far from God we go or how close we return or stay. So, while we're not responsible for the physical distance between us and God, we are largely responsible for the spiritual distance between us.

The good news is that, since our spiritual separation is largely under our control, we can reduce it. We can return to God spiritually long before we have to return to Him physically. We can repent, and through that repentance, we can draw closer to God. That's why I said "if we're separated from God spiritually." We don't have to be. Just like Simba did shortly after this moment, we too can go back to our Heavenly Father.

It's largely (if not entirely) our fault if we're spiritually separated from God, but it's also our responsibility and privilege to reduce that separation.