THE DANGER OF DRIFTING AWAY

“Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it” (Hebrews 2:1).

The world we live in is an interesting place, and if you live in a city like I do where we are surrounded by many different kinds of noise and other distractions, it is easy not to pay closer attention to the Word of God. And that is a dangerous place to be if you are a follower of Christ.

Picture the world we live in as a river with a strong current that drives us away from God towards sin, complacency, and towards self. And God call us to go against that current of self-gratification and self-absorption; He calls us for something greater than that, something greater than ourselves, to love God and to love others. So first let’s see how we can recognize if we are drifting away, below are some points I learned from Dr. Stanley and some I have learned through exploring the word of God. I recognize that these are not the only ones, so please let me know what other you might see are essential:

HOW DO I KNOW IF I AM DRIFTING AWAY

1. Your interest for the Word of God and Prayer decreases
If you call yourself a follower of Christ, but are not putting your face in the book and your knees on the ground my guess will be that you are being taken away by the current. And as Christians the issue of drifting is that we do not simply stop moving and stay where we are until we get it together and continue to go against the current, but that we continue to move, but moving the wrong direction. To drift away does not require effort; even a dead fish can do that. I heard once said that sin will take you farther away than you wanted to go, and keep you there longer that you wanted to stay, and we all know how true of a statement that is.

2. You stop sharing to people about Jesus Christ
Ask yourself, when was the last time you share to someone about Him? Or when was the last time you encouraged a fellow believer in Christ?

3. Not feeling as close to God as we used to
We do not hear the God anymore or sense His presence around us anymore. This is a dangerous place to be. God speaks to us in different ways, through the Bible, prayer, other people, circumstances, but if we keep ignoring His voice again and again our ears will grow deft and our hearts will become hard. If you hear God calling your name, respond as Samuel: “Speak Oh Lord, for your servant is listening” 1 Samuel 3:10).

4. Your desire to gather among fellow believers diminishes
Not only am I talking about going to church, which is essential in our faith walk, I know for some of us that is a box we like to check once in a while. But I am talking about intentionally gathering and having fellowship with other brothers and sisters in Christ daily. We are called to live in community, encouraging each other, so that none of us is hardened by sin’s deception, are we are to do so as it is still called today, meaning daily (Hebrew 3:13).

WHAT CAN I DO TO AVOID DRIFTING

1. Keep paddling
The word retirement does not exist in living the life of a Christian

2. Join efforts
Understand that the Christian faith was meant to be lived out in community. You cannot do it by yourself, believe me on this I tried it! It takes humility to understand that we need of each other and it reminds us that we are all one body with many parts, and each part is unique and essential for the body to be healthy.

3. Recognize the different currents
Stay on guard. In order to battle sin, we need to recognize our weaknesses and temptations so that we can be on alert and ready to combat/avoid those. Do not be ignorant on these, otherwise you will not know when or what hit you. It has been of great benefit for me to understand that I am not to resist sin, but to flee from it just as Moses did (Genesis 39:12).

4. Have a sure and firm Anchor
The only way we can be successful in avoiding going against the current is to have a sure and firm anchor, Jesus Christ (Hebrew 6:19). He is on our behalf.

In closing dear brother and sisters, it is important to know that we all fall short of the glory of God but that it is only by His grace that we find redemption through Jesus Christ. He is our high priest forever.

All for His glory!