Good morning. It is a fine Saturday morning, that is if you like winter in Minnesota. We seem to have taken a turn in that direction. In honor of our first snow, I’d like to start the thought today with a story about a beautiful afternoon at the beach. So, consider if you will, a story about Ben:
Ben is a lifetime Minnesotan who decided with his wife and kids that the best remedy for the Minnesota winter was to spend a week of Christmas vacation at a beach in Florida. There is nothing unusual about that, except perhaps that Ben doesn’t swim. He never learned, and he never wanted to learn. While his wife and two teen children were happily swimming in the ocean, Ben was peacefully afloat. He had purchased one of those blow-up floating rafts, and it was a good one. It was extra wide for stability, had a generous headrest, and it even had those pockets on the side to hold a cold beverage. Nice. Perhaps a bit too nice.
The problem arose when Ben, happily afloat on his high-end blow-up floating raft, decided to lay the novel he was reading on his chest and close his eyes for a minute or two. That is when he fell asleep. Everyone else was having a good time at the beach. Why even the lifeguard was preoccupied with young female tourists and didn’t notice the middle-aged man gently drifting away from shore, headed for the offshore current stream.
When Ben’s leg happened to fall from the raft and into the water, he woke up. What a startling discovery! He was now several hundred yards from shore and was drifting at a speed that made no sense. At least it made no sense to a Minnesotan who had never learned to swim. To a Floridian, the problem was obvious. Ben had slowly drifted away from shore until he reached the current area, and now, if he wasn’t rescued, the next place his raft would find the shore would probably be New England.
By the time his family realized that Ben was no longer in sight, he was a couple of miles away. Naturally, he had been trying to paddle his way to shore, but the current was much too strong; something any Floridian could have told him. His wife yelled at the handsome young lifeguard, who took his eyes off the three young ladies around his tower long enough to call the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard sent out a boat and had Ben and his floaty on board in a few minutes. “Happens all the time” they told him.
Drifting can also be a serious problem for Christians. God’s Word contains several warnings about drifting away. Consider these:
Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. Hebrews 2:1
Examine yourselves, to see whether you are abiding in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test! 2 Corinthians 13:5
There are many verses that warn of drifting away. The Greek verb aphēkes is the one that speaks of a boat that is adrift, but it usually translated in the New Testament translations as to fall away.
The verses that have always hit close to home for me on this subject are the words of Christ in Revelation 2:4-5 as he warns the church at Ephesus: Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen (drifted)! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.
It is far more common for Christian people to slowly drift away from their faith than it is to make a sudden decision to reject their faith in Jesus. Drifting begins from a place of comfort and assumed safety, and usually takes enough time that we scarcely notice the change. But in time, the fire is gone. The enemy has stollen it and replaced our “on fire faith” with all manner of false ideas and emotions. When that person realizes that they have drifted a great distance in faith, the typical reaction is to blame others and become angry.
The story about Ben is a true one, he was a fellow Rotarian in White Bear Lake. He would tell the story of his drift and the ensuing rescue with a bit of embarrassment but would be quick to point out that the Coast Guard had told him, “Don’t worry about it, it happens all the time.” The same could be said for Christians, but I think I would leave off the “don’t worry about it” part. We should be concerned enough to pay attention. When we drift in our faith, we find ourselves looking for excuses rather than attending worship. We find reasons not to pray, not to meditate on God’s Word, not to be a part of efforts of service and ministry. We don’t usually make a decision against these things, we simply drift away until the enemy convinces us that they are necessary.
So, pay attention and beware of those currents that could pull you away. Stay engaged and alert! (and be ready to paddle a bit when required)
Vern