I remember one lazy summer day when I was a little girl, riding the gentle waves along Bethany Beach, Delaware. I was out there in the ocean on my rubber raft. It was so wonderful to feel my raft gently roll in the rocking motion of those waves -- in fact, I almost drifted off! That’s when a giant swell woke me up, I raised my head and realized how far from shore I had been carried away.
It was pretty scary: a strong current had caught me and carried me down the beach. I looked up the beach to where our umbrellas and towels were. I didn't realize how far I had drifted away until the moment I saw that great distance between me and my daddy and my sisters and mom further up the beach.
Thankfully I was never really in trouble – daddy came running after me. But it goes to show, 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 our daddy, 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; current of the latest fashions and fad; there is a current of personal desire, of doing the things you want to do the way you want to them. Lust is a powerful undertow. Materialism is a relentless tug.
It's interesting. I can look back on my own life and see the times I did drift away from the Lord, mostly because of choices that were, well, not mildly immoral, they were really immoral or sometimes choices just to be lazy about prayer and the Bible. Thankfully, my Father in heaven was always there in those darkest moments, even when I turned my back on him.
It's why Hebrews 2 is such a great verse for today. It says, “We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away." It’s a great verse! Friend, in our cultural climate, it is so easy to drift away -- especially in the area of pure thinking and pure living. Someone once said, “Sow a thought, reap an action... sow an action, reap a habit... sow a habit, reap a character.” And when your character goes south... it's usually because you drifted away.
Look, I can say from experience: Following God does not come easy. But take heart: if you're a believer in Christ, he’s looking out for you. Just remember, though, that drifting away from God starts in small ways with little thoughts. To keep the current of your thoughts in line, anchor them today, would you, to the rock of God's promises. Take every thought captive in the power of Christ; commit yourself to keep at the oars, to keep rowing against those strong cultural undertows. Don’t be lulled to sleep and carried away. Please, don't drift away, look up! There’s your daddy calling for you up the beach.
Used by permission of
JONI AND FRIENDS
P.O. Box 3333
Agoura Hills, CA 93176
© Joni and Friends