People should be able to see by the way we live that we actually feel the love of God. This gives weight to our testimony. Our consciences should be tender, and we should strive to the best of our ability to be innocent as to evil and walk in holiness because we love Jesus. Genuine joy in salvation should mark our lives. But our spiritual experiences are not ultimate.

I grew up in the faith. The church, Scripture, and Christianity were all familiar.

But I was not in Christ until my upper teenage, early adult years.

Lately, I keep going back to playing Shane and Shane’s Vintage Album. Not because it’s trending.

Because it takes me back.

“Draw Me Close.”

“Lord I Lift Your Name on High.”

“Breathe.”

All of these songs transport me back to certain moments of intimacy with God in my Christian life. Back to the season when God first saved me. When everything felt new. When grace seemed to taste sweeter.

Those songs carry me to late nights with an open Bible. To prayers that felt real and raw where I poured myself out, just longing to get closer. The tears came easily. My heart seemed wholly captivated by Jesus.

I am so thankful for that time in my life.

Honestly, sometimes when I listen, there is a quiet ache beneath the gratitude.

Why does it not always feel like that anymore?

This Is for the Nostalgic Christian

Have you ever longed for the early days of your new life as a born-again believer?

When you first trusted and everything was new and sweet and exciting?

When loving Jesus felt effortless? When reading His Word felt like discovering buried treasure? When you could not stop talking about Him because He had become everything to you?

I’m betting I’m not the only one that has felt this way or had moments of quiet lament:

“I am not as on fire as I once was.”

“I would give anything to go back to that season.”

“Why do I not feel what I used to feel?”

We replay old worship songs. We revisit journals. We remember certain sermons. We chase the feeling.

But what if we were never meant to go back?

Why We Long to Go Back

There are reasons our hearts drift toward the past.

When we first believed, life felt simpler. Fewer responsibilities. Fewer disappointments. Fewer layers of complexity. Our world felt smaller. Our devotion felt singular.

Now there is noise. Chaos. Uncertainty. Suffering. All streaming into our news feeds by the hour.

It turns out that things like marriage, parenting, vocation, and ministry all carry weight. At some point, the innocence of early faith collided with the realism of a broken world.

Of course we long for what feels easier. We long for simpler times. We long for what feels certain. We long for the familiar. We chase what is sentimental and comfortable.

Nostalgia offers us a return to that warmth, and our memories invite us to revisit the times of our former innocence where devotion was undivided and our desire for God seemed purer.

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