Drifting In Our Christianity

2Peter 3: 17-18 I am warning you ahead of time, dear friends. Be on guard so that you will not be carried away by the errors of these wicked people and lose your own secure footing. Rather, you must grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. (NLT)

I was blessed last week to be away on vacation. As I was floating in the pool staring at the sky and talking to God, He spoke to my heart. What He simply said was, stop floating. I thought to myself, "Stop floating? I like floating it's simple, easy and doesn't require much effort...and therein lies the point God was trying to make.

God speaks to us in many ways beloved. Through prayer and reading Hid Word but also directly to our hearts. He uses metaphorical language as Jesus often did through parables. In this metaphor, God is showing us that the pool represents our life on this earth. Below the water line are the things of this world. The things that can easily distract us and pull us down. Things we can easily find ourselves sinking in if we are not careful. Pride, lust, greed, unforgiveness, anger, hatred, and all the things the devil will use if we let him. Remember, the devil will always use what you are willing to give him. Above the water line are the things of God. The sun, the sky, the stars...the very heavens themselves.

And there we sit on the water line. How we approach it determines how our walk with God will be. Some of us are treading water, keeping our head barely above the surface but still diving down into the depths of where we know we ought not be. Those of us who are like this are the double minded James spoke of:

If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do. James 1: 5-8 (NLT)

We cannot have a divided loyalty. We cannot continue to dive down into the depths of this world and not expect to drown in it one day. In the days of Joshua, there was a man named Achan who had divided loyalty. Joshua was leading Israel through a prosperous time. They had seen many victories that defied human logic, such as at Jericho. God had instructed the Israelites however stay away from the devoted things in the plunder.

Now Achan was probably a good guy by the standards of the world. He was treading water, looking up to God but occasionally diving down into the things of the world. Achan had a problem with greed and he gave that greed over to the enemy and it was used against him.

Then Joshua said to Achan, "My son, give glory to the LORD, the God of Israel, and give him the praise. Tell me what you have done; do not hide it from me." Achan replied, "It is true! I have sinned against the LORD, the God of Israel. This is what I have done: When I saw in the plunder a beautiful robe from Babylonia, two hundred shekels of silver and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. They are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath." Joshua 7: 20-21

Achan gave the devil his greed and the devil used it. He dove down too deep one day into the things of the world and it cost him his life.

That brings us to the floaters. We all like to float from time to time. We all like to rest upon what we have already done. Floating takes no initiative, no real effort, and as such there is no real progress. We kind of drift this way and that, allowing the things in our lives to dictate where our walk goes. Maybe we tithe occasionally, read the Bible occasionally or pray occasionally but it all adds up to a part time relationship with God. Well, Jesus does not casually date. Christianity requires a full time commitment. Read the Old Testament and you will see Israel constantly being charged by God with adultery worshipping idols instead of Him the one true living God.

They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator--who is forever praised. Amen. Romans 1: 25

And so it can still go for us today as well. We can set up our own idols things that we place ahead of God. Maybe our career has become an idol. Maybe our relationship. Maybe our inflated sense of self. We can just float through our Christianity. Letting the current take us where it will. Because when we float, there is no effort on our part.

But Christianity requires something from us. We are not meant to be passive observers in our own salvation. God always has another level for us to climb to but it requires the climbing. So often we can get to the plateau God is leading us to and simply sit down. We can become satisfied and complacent. Nothing aids the work of the enemy more than a complacent Christian. The satisfied Christian is satisfied with their own walk. They think they have arrived. They have read the Bible and know the Scripture. They have done the prayer lines and healing services. Their spirit becomes unteachable. They start to think that their salvation has already been all worked out. But the Bible teaches us differently:

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed--not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence--continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, - Philippians 2: 12

We need to continue to work out our salvation. There is always more to be done for the kingdom of God. There is always a next level the Lord has for you. The question is whether we are striving towards that next level or whether we are floating along, going whichever way the wind blows. Samson was a floater.

Blessed by God with enormous strength, Samson would slay a thousand Philistines with nothing more than a fresh donkey jawbone. He tore a lion apart with his bare hands. He led Israel for 20 years but at some point Samson must have felt like he had arrived. He had a weakness for lust and Delilah became his undoing. He started floating and allowed the current of his infatuation lead him down the path of destruction. Three times Delilah tried to get Samson to reveal the secret of his strength so the Philistines could capture him. Three times Samson saw that Delilah was trying to betray him. Nevertheless, he continued floating down this path. He gave the enemy his lust and the enemy continued to use it against him. The fourth time Samson told Delilah the truth and after they cut off his hair, we see that Samson had floated for too long and into waters that were too deep:

Then she called, "Samson, the Philistines are upon you!" He awoke from his sleep and thought, "I'll go out as before and shake myself free." But he did not know that the LORD had left him. Judges 16: 20

This verse reveals problem we can face too if we allow ourselves to float in our Christianity. First, Samson assumed that he could simply do as he did before as if God had nothing to do with all of the successes he had previously had. We too can get to a point of complacency where we feel that somehow it was under our own ability that we have achieved so much. I don't have to pray as much as I did before. I don't have to read the Word as much as I did before. Then we try to flex our spiritual muscles and find ourselves without the power of God that we once had. Samson did not even realize that the Lord had left him! If we are not careful the same fate can await us. We become the center of our walk instead of God. Our accolades or our success becomes the focal point instead of Almighty God through whom all good things come.

Because the truth is that floating is an illusion. It feels safe but it is not. When we swim, all muscles are being worked at once and in unison. When we pursue the things of God all of our spiritual muscles are likewise worked at once and in unison. Theoretically, one can float continuously. There is no scientific reason why a floater might sink. But what happens inevitably is that the floater ingests water, a little bit at a time. The water fills the lungs at some point and the person will indeed start to sink. When we float along the water line between the things of God and the things of this world, we start to ingest the things of this world, a little bit at a time. We start to compromise, a little bit at a time. We see our good habits falter a little bit at a time. We are not consciously diving down into the world but are allowing the world to enter us, a little bit at a time. You cannot float and expect to not get wet.

God wants us swimming beloved. He wants us actively pursuing Him at all costs. There are benefits to swimming over floating. The swimmer dictates the direction and pace. The floater drifts where the water will take him. More often than not the floater drifts into areas he should not be going. Areas of the past that haunt him. Areas of the future that scare him. But the swimmer cuts through those areas. The swimmer is directed by God. He goes in the direction God wants him to go in and we can always trust the direction God gives us:

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28

The swimmer is following God's direction. The current of life can be strong beloved. It can seem insurmountable. The waves can seem to be about to crash over your head but God has already promised:

When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. Isaiah 43: 2a (NLT)

The swimmer is actively engaged. They are not complacent. They are forward moving. They are seeking the next level God has for them. The Bible promises us that if we persist, we will be rewarded:

"Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Matthew 7: 7-8 (NLT)

But we have to keep on beloved. We have to keep on asking. We have to keep on seeking. We have to keep on knocking. By asking we will receive. By seeking we will find. By knocking, the doors to the future God has for us will be opened. Floating will accomplish none of this. Floating will just see us drift further and further away from where God wants us to be. The world will seep into our lungs and soon we will find ourselves drowning in the very things Christ has already overcome for us.

We can find ourselves carried away as the key verses say today. We can lose our secure footing. These verses from 2Peter implore us however to continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. We must continue swimming, moving forward and not give the enemy a foothold in our lives.

Because the enemy will use whatever we are willing to give him. If we give him our pride he will use it against us. If we give him our lust he will use it against us. There is so much more that God has for you today. There is another level He wishes to take you to. But we have to pursue to get there. We have to swim to avoid sinking in the things of this world. We must be asking. We must be seeking. We must be knocking. Keep on keeping on today.

Reverend Anthony Wade September 16, 2010