| Do you recall, as a child, riding your rubber raft on the gentle waves of the ocean? I remember the warm sun and the rocking motion almost sending me off to sleep. In fact, I once did just that. When a giant swell woke me up, I raised my head and realized with horror how far from shore I had been carried away. A strong current had caught me and carried me down the beach. I don’t know how it happened…and so quickly! I didn’t realize how far I had drifted away until the moment I saw that great distance between me and my family further up the beach.
Drifting can be dangerous. Always, always there are currents pulling at us. Always we are swimming upstream, against the tide. There is always the temptation to drift, and we never realize how far we are carried away until we see Christ…until we see the others from whom we have parted. It is possible for any of us to drift spiritually or morally. No one is immune. Think of the powerful currents in your life that would carry you along unless you “kept at the oars” to control the direction. There is the current of social opinion or fad. There is a current of personal desire, of doing the things you want to do. Lust is a powerful undertow. Materialism is a relentless tug.
Following God does not come easy. Today anchor yourself with a recommitment to keep at the oars, to keep rowing against those strong undertows. Let’s not be lulled to sleep and carried away.
Someone has said, “Sow a thought, reap an action. Sow an action, reap a habit. Sow a habit, reap a character.” Drifting from God starts in small ways with little thoughts. To keep the current of your thoughts in line, find a King James Bible and look up 2 Corinthians 10:5. Can your thoughts be controlled? Who gives you the power to do so?
Lord, you are a lighthouse for me, a center point, a high tower. I can always tell whether or not I’m drifting, by looking to see how close or how far from you I am. Keep me anchored near you. |
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