Drifting
Drifting
It is a lovely thing to sit in a canoe or boat and just drift for a while. You don’t need to exert any effort and even the direction is not all that important. You know that you are moving gradually and thee seems to be no danger around so lazily drifting along is very relaxing. On the other hand if you are in a race or trying to dodge rocks and trees in a fast flowing winter creek then drifting is a dangerous activity. You need to be fully alert using all your senses and muscles to take the canoe through the safest passage in the quickest time.
We belong to Christ and are in a race to the finish. It is not a race where we compete with each other but a race to the end combating the oldest enemy of all time. To drift in such a context is to invite danger and leave us cracking the hull on some submerged rocks or tipping the whole vessel over in unforgiving rapids.
We are called to learn of Christ and to be deliberate in our following him. He calls us to discover daily how to repent, to listen, to be bold, to be humble and when to speak and when to be silent. It is an active and dynamic relationship that does not allow for any drifting even for a moment. This is not to say we do not rest, we do. But even our resting is with a real awareness that the devil can get a toehold in our times of ease and comfort. To rest in Christ is to hand him our worries, not to kick back and drift.
The Word says to be alert at all times so you can pray. In other words if you are drifting spiritually you are not in a place to pray. Prayer comes out of choosing deliberately to remain in the vessel that is Christ. He can only guide when we are sensitive to his every word. Choose to give up drifting and enter into the race of life. Jesus promises an abundance that drifting can never give.
Rod