The Danger of Drifting

English explorer William Parry became famous for his expeditions to the North Pole. In 1827 he took a crew to the Arctic Ocean for the purpose of making charts of unmapped territories. His expedition led him farther north than anyone had ever been previously. Of course, in those days there was no GPS, so Parry and his men calculated their position by the stars. As they started an exceedingly difficult and treacherous journey marching north, they walked hour upon hour until they were totally exhausted and finally stopped. Taking their bearings from the stars they discovered that they were further south than when they had started. How could this possibly be? Parry discovered the shocking fact—his men had been walking on an ice float that was drifting south faster than they had been walking north![1]

What happened to William Parry geographically, can happen to us spiritually with even more disastrous results. The writer of Hebrews warned us, “Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it” (2:1). Spiritual drift can happen to any Christian, no matter how long or how faithfully we have been serving the Lord. In fact, I would wager that spiritual drift is responsible for more castaways of the faith than even the storms of life.

C.S. Lewis wrote in his classic book Mere Christianity, “If you examined a hundred who had lost their faith in Christianity, I wonder how many of them would turn out to have been reasoned out of it by honest argument? Do not most people simply drift away without realizing it?”[2]

Perhaps, one sign of spiritual drift that we can clearly point to is the headline from FOX NEWS which ran a few days before Easter 2021, “Church attendance drops below 50% in US, poll finds.” The article reported that church attendance has hit an all-time low in the US, of course the main culprit was the COVID pandemic, which caused many churches to shut down for good.^[3]

The unique circumstances of COVID revealed which believers were anchored in Christ and those who were not. 2020 created a disrupted world in which drift was a greater danger than ever.

 When I think of spiritual drift three words come to mind. First, its imperceptible; meaning that we can slowly fade away from Bible reading, prayer and church fellowship without even realizing it’s happening. In fact, drifting is the easiest thing to do, because it takes no effort at all. It’s our default setting because our tendency is never to drift towards godliness. Second, its irresponsible. Note the key admonition in Hebrews 2:1, “we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard.” Drifting happens because we let carelessness creep in. Like a mariner who adjusts his sails and rudder with the winds, we too must be making constant course corrections in our spiritual lives, lest we become a castaway. Third, spiritual drift can be irreversible. One thing I’ve learned about drifting – the longer you drift the harder it is to get back to harbor. I know stories of people who drifted too far, too long and they ended up shipwrecked. There is a point of “no return” and if we don’t stop the drift, we can be pulled over the falls!

Spiritual drift may be a deceiving force, but it doesn’t have to be a decided fact. We can resist the under-toe of the flesh, the winds of worldliness and Satan’s squalls. We have a captain who walks on the water and can pull us out of the high waves! I’m glad James 4:8 is still in the Bible,  

“Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.” The old question is still worth pondering, “If you find yourself far from God, then guess who moved?” Have you drifted from God? Cry out to Jesus and you will find Him to be a sturdy anchor! -DM  

 

I was sinking deep in sin / Far from the peaceful shore  

Very deeply stained within / Sinking to rise no more

But the Master of the sea / Heard my despairing cry

From the waters lifted me / Now safe am I

Love lifted me / Love lifted me

When nothing else could help

Love lifted me

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[1] David Jeremiah, Hebrews: The Supremacy & Sufficiency of Christ, vol. 1 (San Diego, CA: Turning Point, 2012), 32.  

[2] C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (San Francisco: Harper One, 1952), 141.

[3] Peter Aitken, “Church attendance drops below 50% in US, poll finds,” FOX NEWS, 29 March 2021

<https://www.foxnews.com/us/church-membership-below-50-percent-gallup-poll>