God is always moving; yet we tend to drift.
The Bible and history show us that God is always moving. He moves to save, to bring justice, to restore, to form a people for Himself, and to exalt Jesus. However, we tend to drift … and we never drift toward God or good things. Think about it—your house does not drift toward cleanliness, your body does not drift toward being in shape, your marriage does not drift toward vitality, and you will not drift toward God’s purposes either.
Here are 3 “Drifts” to resist this year:
- Toward SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS: we were created to be God-conscious and then Satan made us question God’s goodness and want God’s glory (Genesis 3:1-5). Then after sin entered the human race, we became ashamed … which is being conscious of our shortcomings. We must realize that it is very hard for a self-conscious person to move consistently or powerfully with God (James 4:6). A church can easily drift toward self-consciousness too. This occurs when we become more concerned about ourselves than reaching people far from God or serving people outside the “4 walls” of the building.
- Toward MAINTENANCE: how easily inertia sets in and we start maintaining what we have instead of moving to where God is going. You know you are in maintenance mode if you are saying any of these 3 words, SOMEDAY, SOMEONE, or SOMETHING:
- SOMEDAY I’ll get to that…
- SOMEONE should do something about that…
- SOMETHING needs to be done about that…
A church can easily drift toward maintenance too. When this happens, the church becomes a monument to what was, instead of moving with God toward what will be and what should be.
- Toward AVOIDANCE: this occurs when we know God has touched something in us or brought us to a redemptive crisis, but we avoid moving with God. We are aware of the call, the invitation, the issue … but we avoid doing anything about it.
When I was in middle school, Beth & I went to a Youth Conference on Jekyll Island. During the final service, I knew God was talking to me and I needed to move with Him. The preacher asked us all to close our eyes, bow our heads and then raise our hands if God was dealing with us about something. My hand shot up. Then he asked us to walk to an area to meet with counselors; I sat still. I was self-conscious, I was going to be a maintainer (not a mover) and I was drifting toward avoidance. Thankfully, Beth had ignored the preacher’s request to keep her eyes closed and she saw my hand go up. She whispered to me, “If you want to go talk to someone, I’ll go with you.”
What God was doing IN me couldn’t be finalized until someone moved WITH me!
Christianity is a “WE” movement. Church is “WE”, not just me. We need each other to move with God and avoid drifting. As we begin 2016, I want to encourage you to be part of God’s WE!
- RETHINK what church membership means and why small groups are so important.