One of my biggest fears is not that I will ever deny Christ (or worse, that He will ever disown me), but that I will simply drift in my relationship with Him and lose my desire to know Christ. And because it is a more subtle danger, I think it is actually more likely to be a problem. The crush of life seems to conspire against deep devotion until my faith seems more like a surface commitment than a life-altering covenant. And most people that walk away from Christ don't do so in one giant, dramatic leap of faith abandonment. Rather, they simply start to drift a little until a little becomes a lot. And the tough thing is, often you can't recognize how far you have drifted until you are very far away indeed, at which point it becomes easier to simply continue to drift.
And the problem is, it is easiest to drift not when things are hard, but when they are like I want them be, which is comfortable and prosperous. I have spent my morning turning the following passage over in my mind:
When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you. Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws, and his decrees that I am giving you this day. Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your flocks and herds grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. -Deuteronomy 8:10-14
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