Drifting

In our new sermon series called Vital signs, three of the five messages I’m going to be presenting are from the book of Colossians. Colossians is written by the Apostle Paul with a little help from his apprentice Timothy. The Letter was written to the church in Colosse because heresy was being taught and tolerated in the church. The heretical teachings were hurting the church and especially new Christians. Paul goes to great lengths to warn the church about false teachings that undermine the word of God. In Colossians 1:23 (NLT) it says, “But you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the good news.” 

The word drifting caught my attention. It got me thinking about how easy it is to drift if we are not paying attention. As a surfer I’m always aware of rip currents. We actually use rip currents to our advantage because they quickly get us out where the best waves are breaking. Through the years I’ve watched hundreds of beach goers get rescued and it all started with drifting. Maybe you have experienced it yourself. You’re out frolicking around the shoreline playing with the waves and slowly making your way into deeper water. At some point you realize your feet are no longer in contact with the ocean floor but you're not too worried about it because after all you are an excellent swimmer. When you are ready to come back in you notice that you are much further out than you thought. You’ve been drifting, however you didn’t notice because you weren’t paying attention. Now you are alarmed, maybe even a little panicked. You begin swimming as hard as you can to get back to shore but the rip current keeps pulling you out and you are losing the battle. It’s at this point you see a lifeguard approaching and you feel an overwhelming sense of relief and thankfulness. The lifeguard rescues you and says, “Next time pay attention and if you get caught in a rip current swim parallel to the beach and you will get out of the rip current."

That is the perfect metaphor for what happens to Christians when they are not paying attention to their spiritual life. In Colossians 2:8 it says, “Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high sounding nonsense that comes from human thinking and from spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ.” If you don’t know what you believe in and why you believe it you are in dangerous waters. I’ve watched the slow drift wreck people's faith more times than I can remember and it makes me sad. Sometimes I’ve been able to rescue people but far too many times they have drifted so far away from truth they don’t want to be rescued. Ironically as I’m writing this a picture of a guy who used to go to our church popped up on my social media. I checked out his profile to see how he's doing. Sadly, based on what his profile says it appears he’s drifted far away from Christianity. Maybe it’s time to check your vital signs. Are you drifting? Are you paying attention to what’s going on in your life? Is the Bible still your standard for truth?

I hope you will come join us for our new series or listen to our podcast if you can’t make it. 

Stay close to Jesus,

Steve