A New England fishing boat captain explained the dangers of icing to a young sailor. Ice can sink a boat in the Atlantic. Well, sure it can, if you run into an iceberg, except that the fishing captain wasn't talking about big chunks of floating ice. He was talking about another kind of ice that forms slowly and almost unnoticed. The continual spray of the ocean in the cold of winter causes ice to build up on the boat, weighing her down so that she sits lower in the water. If she is too weighted by the ice, when a wave sweeps up to the bow, she may dip into the sea and take on so much water, that she'll sink. The young crewman's job was to take a bat and hit the ice, knocking it off- again and again.
Pilots know the dangers of icing, too. Ice build up on the wings causes extra weight and reduces the aerodynamic effect of 'lift' creating a very real danger. It doesn't take much ice, either. This is something my own family experienced several years ago when my uncle Dean, who piloted a corporate jet, died after flying into icing conditions that took his plane down!
Believer, there is a danger to our spiritual well-being that is similar to those accounts. Just a little 'willfulness,' a small deviation from what we know to be right, good, and the will of God, creates a weight. The drag created by that disobedience allows other sins to stick more easily and we sink lower... and lower. We don't turn away from God in one dramatic moment. We drift away from Him, one tiny step after another. Scripture warns, "It’s crucial that we keep a firm grip on what we’ve heard so that we don’t drift off." (Hebrews 2:1, The Message) In His parable about seeds and soils, which is about the Word of God and our hearts, Jesus says - "the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful." (Mark 4:19, NIV)
It is so much easier to deal with things earlier, rather than later. Not allowing a bad habit to start is much simpler than breaking one after that pattern gets engrained in us. James creates a colorful illustration to help us understand the way that temptation turns into death! "Each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers." (James 1:14-16, NIV) Making love to desires of disobedience creates the possibility of getting pregnant with sin! Could he be clearer?
This TFTD is not written to imply that you and I can save ourselves from God's judgment through scrupulous attention to self-righteousness! You can keep all the rules in the world and drive everybody around you crazy with your nit-picking at human failures and foibles and still be far from God. The Pharisees who show up frequently in the Gospels were great at writing and keeping rules, but they didn't really love God, nor did they have the life of the Spirit in them. If you have not met Christ as Savior, received His forgiveness, and been made alive in a conversion brought by the Holy Spirit - that is what you need to start. That said, the importance of daily holiness, of walking 'in the Spirit,' cannot be under-stated. Yes, it's dramatic but it's Biblical. "Be careful! Watch out for attacks from the Devil, your great enemy. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for some victim to devour." (1 Peter 5:8, NLT) Even more insidious to our spiritual vitality is - dangerous drift!
Do a spiritual check-up today. Invite the Holy Spirit to shine the Light into the corners of your heart and mind.
Are you holding onto unforgiveness, giving bitterness a toe-hold?
Are you careless about your prayers, your attendance to worship, or the daily disciplines of the soul?
Are you flirting with temptation, giving thoughts of disobedience to God a place to rest in your mind?
Turn to Him! Make a clean break with that thing with the help of the Spirit, your Advocate, the Helper.
Call that behavior what God calls it! Don't go easy, don't 'pretty it up!'
Enlist the help of another Believer to break the ice that is weighing your down from your life.
Practice the disciplines of spiritual formation which allow the seed of Gospel of Christ to grow, producing a bountiful harvest of goodness in you, which is for the glory of God, the Father. Amen!
No comments:
Post a Comment