In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.
– Hebrews 12:4
For it, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.
– 2 Peter 2:20
I have often watched people whom I knew who were committed disciples of Jesus begin to drift from the things of the Lord. They begin to compromise here and there. Most started out with small compromises such as watching a television program they normally would not watch or perhaps they begin to listen to music they used to listen to before their salvation. Perhaps it was small changes such as they stopped coming to meet with us for prayer or perhaps they begin to slow up in their study of their Bibles. Perhaps it was in the area of evangelism that they stopped sharing their faith and seeking to make disciples. But one way or another, they became lazy in their discipleship and begin to drift away (Hebrews 2:1-4). They stopped fighting their flesh (1 Corinthians 9:24-27) and they begin to entertain the flesh (1 John 2:15-17). They slowly became engrossed with the world (James 4:4) and soon their hearts turned from a passionate pursuit of Jesus and holiness to drifting toward the world.
And all these things were subtle. Most people don’t wake up one morning and simply choose that day to begin to ignore God and His Word but it begins slowly. It is quite easy to follow the flesh and become lazy. It is quite easy to skip studying my Bible because I am tired or it is easy to avoid prayer. It is easy to allow my flesh to become enamored by the world and its stuff. By nature, we are children of wrath (Ephesians 2:3) and so by nature we tend to want to follow our flesh and live a life of rebellion against God and against His Word.
And that is why we must fight. Paul told Timothy to fight the good fight of faith (1 Timothy 6:12) and we must fight to remain faithful to Jesus (2 Timothy 2:11-13). Jesus never fails but it is often so easy for us to fail Him. He lovingly comes to us and convicts us of sin by His Spirit (John 16:8-11) and we must respond to His discipline (Hebrews 12:7-11). God wants us to share in His holiness (Hebrews 12:10) and He is not coming to us out of anger but out of grace and mercy. We must not refuse Him who is speaking to us (Hebrews 12:25) but we must repent and follow hard after Him.
So let me encourage you to not drift in your discipleship. Now is not the time to grow weak in the Word or grow weak in evangelism or grow weak in holiness or grow weak in prayer. Now is the time to take up our crosses and follow Jesus (Luke 9:23-25) and realize that our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed (Romans 13:11-12). God has called us to holiness (1 Peter 1:15-16) and if we practice sin, we are proving that we have fallen from Him and don’t know Him (1 John 3:6-9 NIV). Let us be passionate about one thing: Jesus and His kingdom and not the things of this world (Romans 7:4-6).
[Link to original post and comments on Roy Ingle’s website.]
