“I am warning you ahead of time, dear friends. Be on guard so that you will not be carried away by the errors of these wicked people and lose your secure footing.” (2 Peter 3:17 NLT)
Losing our footing spiritually is much like losing our footing while walking or hiking. It’s not deliberate and often happens unexpectedly. As a rule, we don’t get out of bed one day and say or think: “Today I’m going to lose my spiritual footing and slide away from the Lord.”
Like so many other things, we have good intentions and a strong desire to keep going, but we miss a day, then two, then before long we can’t remember the last time we did them. It’s like that with spiritual disciplines like church attendance, serving, reading the Bible, praying, fasting, and witnessing. It’s not like we deliberately leave them, it just happens by default.
Casting Crowns sings a song called “It’s a Slow Fade,” the last verse of which says: “The journey from your mind to your hands Is shorter than you’re thinking Be careful if you think you stand You just might be sinking.” Then the chorus says: “It’s a slow fade when you give yourself away It’s a slow fade when black and white are turned to gray And thoughts invade, choices are made, a price will be paid When you give yourself away People never crumble in a day It’s a slow fade, it’s a slow fade.”
My mom was an alcoholic when I was a child, but she didn’t become one overnight. It began with a single drink. It’s the same for those addicted to drugs, sex, pornography, or anything else, but the irony is, that’s not how you get free of those addictions. You’ve got to decide to be done with them, then get the help you need to stop.
We don’t, with rare exception, have the wherewithal to stop our addictions. We need help, often from professionals trained to deal with our specific issues, but always with someone who loves and will walk with us through the terrors of withdrawal.
Lisa Lakey, a writer with Family Life, wrote: “Even simple conversation took a hit. Days would go by without meaningful talks between the two of us. We were slowly drifting away from each other. The worst part? We didn’t even notice. It’s a slow fade from connect to disconnect in marriage. It takes effort for couples to stay connected emotionally, physically, and spiritually. Disconnecting is easy—it sneaks up on you while you’re busy doing life.”
We cannot, we must not allow our love for Jesus to go into default mode. He will never walk away from us, but we can, inadvertently, sometimes without conscious thought, drift away from Him. That’s why it’s so critical to have brothers (if you’re a man) or sisters (if you’re a woman) to hold us accountable. We need people in our lives to ask us the hard questions. Questions like: “How are things with your spouse?” “How are your spiritual disciplines going?” “What’s going on, I haven’t seen you in group lately?” “Have you been drinking/gambling/watching porn/etc.”
Far too often, while we may not desire it to happen, we lose our connection to the Lord, not because He’s left us – He never will – but because we got lazy, distracted by work, play, kids, life! If we’re married we’ve all seen it happen in our walk with our spouse. We have to determine to hold one another accountable to do what’s healthy for our relationship, but beyond that, to do what’s right in our walk with the Lord.
We can’t afford to get lazy and risk beginning a slow fade that can rob us of our closeness and usefulness to the Lord.
Food for thought.
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 