DRIFTING

October 31, 2017

It’s not only easy, it’s natural. If you've been in a boat of any kind in the water (no matter the size) you are aware of the unceasing movement that occurs. Even on a calm day, the current pulls you from your original spot.

SPIRITUAL DRIFTING

The writer of Hebrews uses this picture to remind of us of our tendency to drift away from what matters and lasts.

""For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it."" (Hebrews 2:1)

STRONG CURRENTS

You would think that the spiritual life would be immovable. Truth is unchangeable, God is unmovable, but the human soul is not. ""Prone to wander, Lord I feel it,"" wrote Robert Robinson at the age of 22 in 1757.

Strong winds push us. The world and its marketing, our flesh and its weakness, and the devil and his incessant whispering, all push us downstream. We can wake up in an instant a million miles from Christ and His truth.

PAYING ATTENTION

The remedy for this drift is to ""pay much closer attention to what we have heard."" 

We pay attention to what we value. If there is a current television show  we want to see, we plan our schedules around it. We wouldn't miss it for anything. We give meticulous attention to our appearance, to our environments (because we love our comfort), to the latest, greatest material possession.

But what about the words from heaven? When Almighty God is speaking, do we listen? And, not just listen, but pay ""much closer attention?"" Surely there could be nothing more important than to be lashed to Him and His truth which sets us free.

What adjustments should be made in our lives this week to fight against the drift? More prayer, more study of His Word, more attention to instant obedience to the Spirit's prompting, more scripture memorization (a lost art to most), more fasting, more time with life-minded believers would fight the drift. Robinson felt that the constant meditation on God’s goodness would help us. “Let Thy goodness, like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to Thee.”

Surely there could be no greater task, for everything of value comes by closeness to God and attention to the words that are designed to keep us from being “led away from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:3).

Robinson's prayer (put to music written by the great revivalist of the 2nd Great Awakening, Asahel Nettleton) is as important for us today as it was 260 years ago.

Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,                                                                    

Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;                                                                      

Streams of mercy, never ceasing,                                                                             

Call for songs of loudest praise.                                                                            

Teach me some melodious sonnet,                                                                         

Sung by flaming tongues above.                                                                          

Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it,                                                                     

Mount of Thy redeeming love.

 

O to grace how great a debtor                                                                                 

Daily I’m constrained to be!                                                                                        

Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,                                                                                

Bind my wandering heart to Thee.                                                                       

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,                                                                               

Prone to leave the God I love;                                                                                

Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,                                                                           

Seal it for Thy courts above.

 





Also in Graceful Truth

REFLECTIONS ON SPIRITUAL AWAKENING (Part 15)
REFLECTIONS ON SPIRITUAL AWAKENING (Part 15)

March 15, 2023

This is the heart of revival, both personal and corporate. Revival intimates two things have occurred: a drifting and a return. We have wandered from Christ. Our hearts have become cold and lifeless. To be revived is to be brought back to that which is life itself. It’s not a return to a program or a discipline. It is to fall in love with Jesus all over again. It is a repentance unto Him.

Continue Reading

REFLECTIONS ON SPIRITUAL AWAKENING (Part 14)
REFLECTIONS ON SPIRITUAL AWAKENING (Part 14)

March 10, 2023

Is prayer a nice thing to do? Something we resort to when we are in a serious situation? A word to describe one of the disciplines of the Christian life? Secondary, but not really all that essential? Something we do as a segue between songs on a Sunday morning? Or is it the essence? The foundation? The fragrance that is to pervade everything for the serious follower of Jesus? The ultimate pathway to communion with God and the source of life and power for all we are and do?

Continue Reading

REFLECTIONS ON SPIRITUAL AWAKENING (Part 13)
REFLECTIONS ON SPIRITUAL AWAKENING (Part 13)

March 09, 2023

Why should we pray fervently for the blessing of a nationwide or worldwide spiritual awakening? Why should we unite (as Jonathan Edwards said) in “explicit agreement and visible union among God’s people in extraordinary prayer for a revival of religion and the advancement of Christ’s kingdom on earth?” Why should we seek to cooperate together and not tear apart the beginnings of His awakening in our nation?

Continue Reading