Is your life standing still? That’s NOT a reality!

Robert Orben once said:  "I have only one thing to say about runners. Anyone who says they run ten miles a day with their muscles aching, their heart pounding and their lungs on fire because it makes them feel good will lie about other things as well!"

Besides making me laugh, it also made me think about the Christian life. It is hard work because we are always in a current that is moving in the direction of the world. We cannot just float through our life, the current will move us whether we like it or not. Our life has to be one that is constant movement toward God! If we use the scriptural view of our walk, it is a race.

1 Cor. 9:24 & Heb. 12:1 “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win…let us run with endurance the race that is set before us”

Imagine if that race was on a moving walkway

We need to view our life, going in the opposite direction. You would have two ways to move in the wrong direction and only one way to move in the right direction. If you turn toward the wrong direction and run, you will quickly head the wrong way. If you face the right direction and exert effort to move forward you will continue to move towards your goal. However, if you just stand still, the moving walkway will take you, ever so slowly, in the wrong direction!

Let’s first review the first two warnings: 

     * First Warning #1 Laziness = Lack of Discipline

          § Test yourself: Do you only do the difficult or inconvenient when forced to, or 

             do you choose to do the difficult, i.e. Memorize Scripture, Read through the 

             Bible, Fast, etc. just to stay in shape?

     * Second Warning #2 Boredom = Lack of Purpose

          § Test yourself: Are you Proactive in your walk with God? Do you seek from 

             Him on your own to create new ways to grow and serve Christ?

Third - Warning  #3 Restlessness

When we are beginning to drift, we sense a “restlessness.” That feeling where no matter where we are or what we are doing, we know that something is wrong. This is the “new nature” created by the Holy Spirit in us expressing displeasure in the direction we are headed in. 

Isaiah 57:20 “But those who still reject me are like the restless sea, which is never still but continually churns up mud and dirt.

Ecclesiastes 1:8 Everything is wearisome beyond description. No matter how much we see, we are never satisfied. No matter how much we hear, we are not content.

When we are beginning to drift, our inner man senses the distance from the One that loves us the most. Our new nature agitates us so we feel like we can never be at peace. The reason we are restless exposes that we have a Lack of Contentment. Do not confuse this with frustration. Frustration is from God and He uses it to get us to move. Being discontented is when our flesh is demanding more, and is always the wrong thing. When we experience a lack of contentment, in actuality we are telling God, “I don’t like where you have me and I won’t stay here!”

Test yourself: How do you handle solitude? If you are alone for a period of time, can you use it profitably, or do you just become “antsy” and have to find anything to do to distract yourself?

Luke 5:16 But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray.

Psalm 116:7 Let my soul be at rest again, for the Lord has been good to me.

Ecclesiastes 4:6 One hand full of rest is better than two fists full of labor and striving after wind.

Now we move from “warning” signs of Drifting, to “Strong Current.” This is when our life has moved into an obvious direction toward the world and our Faith is beginning

                                       to lose ground. 

Fourth - Strong Current #4 Pride

When we begin to deal with Pride, it reveals we have stepped over a BIG line in our walk with the Lord. If we are filled with Pride we rob glory from God! We look for ways to make ourselves look good, not God. Our focus is “how does this better other’s view of me!” We find ourselves becoming independent of God, much like the church of Laodicea!  

Revelation 3:15–17 ‘I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. ‘So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. ‘Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked

Being that I am an expert on Pride, having experienced it so much in my life, and due to the fact that from decades of counseling humans, I have come to a firm conviction that Pride is due to a Lack of REAL Esteem! The world encourages everyone to develop Self-esteem, which is actually an oxymoron for believers. Our greatest problem is “self” and if we build our self worth (esteem) on that, it is the very opposite direction of the Holy Spirit! Self-esteem is just that, worth built on “self.” The flesh powers “Self,” which is clearly not the source that will direct us to God.

Galatians 5:17 The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions.

“Real” self worth (esteem) comes from God. I developed a teaching on this in detail, but it is long, so to summarize, when we seek to find our worth from the world, it will lead to self-esteem, which will produce pride. We should gain our esteem from the One Who made us! That will lead to a proper balance of being a sinner and a most precious and loved creation of God.

Test yourself: How many of those around you know that you need Christ and have no joy in your life without Him? Are you embarrassed to talk about your dependence on Christ for everything in your life?

Revelation 3:18–20 I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. ‘Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent. ‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.

The strongest action you can take when you have drifted into the Strong Current moving toward worldliness is to humble yourself, confess, repent and return to the Lord! As we continue next time we will see two more “Strong Currents” that lead to “Danger Zones” and finally onto the rocks where we find ourselves “Shipwrecked!”

1 Timothy 1:19 Cling to your faith in Christ, and keep your conscience clear. For some people have deliberately violated their consciences; as a result, their faith has been shipwrecked.

Challenge: Look at these first signs of Drifting and take the tests.