A Quote
From a young age, I realized that not all Christians were like my dad. Other adults who went to our church—my teachers, baseball coaches, friends’ parents—didn’t speak about God the way that he did. Theirs was a more casual Christianity, a hobby more than a lifestyle, something that could be picked up and put down and slotted into schedules.
—The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism
by Tim Albert
A Thought
About thirty years ago, I was hiking an unfamiliar mountain ridge in Montana, trying to locate an elk so I could fill our freezer with wild meat. The mountains were lightly covered with snow, but after miles of hiking, the only elk sign seen were some tracks from the night before.
Tired, sore, and ready to call it a day, I was walking in the direction of my vehicle when I spotted something tan about 5o yards away. I threw up my borrowed rifle, and the “tan boulder” suddenly lifted his head, revealing long, sweeping antlers. With no time to think, I simply pulled the trigger, and my first, and biggest, elk dropped to the ground instantly.
It was cold, late, and I did not know EXACTLY where I was standing, so I quickly took care of the bull elk, draped clothing over it to scare the coyotes away, and hiked down the ridge and walked the couple miles back to the truck, marking my path with orange tape.
The next day, someone came back to help me butcher the elk so I could pack it out. Part way through that process, I loaded up the antlers and cape and started hiking to the truck. It was a heavy load, and I had to pause every 100 yards and roll the load off my shoulders for a minute. It was supposed to be a simple hike out on the ridge top, BUT something happened along the way. Somehow the ridge twisted and turned, and I got on the wrong side on the ridge. By the time I realized my error, I was too far down and unable to climb and carry the load back to the proper trail.
Five miles later, I staggered to the truck, absolutely exhausted and spent. One slight error, and the trail took me the wrong way, and though I eventually made my way back home, I was reminded of the power of drift—when a small diversion can lead to huge ramifications. In this case, my drift slightly off course let to a path that took me miles off course.
That memory came to me after a conversation with friends a couple nights ago. Our friends were talking about a church in which they were previously deeply involved. Once firing on all cylinders, the church got diverted from its original focus via a few bad hirings and poor decisions, ultimately leading to a church fracture.
The other couple shared the same experience, a church from their past, seeing people become offended at the choice of a pastor with half the church leaving. After referencing another more recent church leadership failure, she made a comment that stuck with me—What is it about all these churches? What is going on?! How do they get so messed up?
I replied, “Churches are just like individuals. If the church gets off of its focus on the mission of God, it drifts away and eventually crashes. But to be fair, it is the same with followers of Christ. It isn’t enough to start the race. We have to finish the race.”
No church or individual plans to drift. We all begin the journey with the greatest intentions. Yet something happens en route, and a small diversion leads to a destination far from the original trail. For churches, it could be an unhealthy focus on finances, or protectionism, or comfort. I could be leaders that don’t have the spiritual maturity or the ears to hear God’s voice. For individuals, it often comes from a desire for more comfort, for more power, for more control. It is easier to sleep in or focus on having fun, FOMO on life rather than investing in eternal life. For both churches and individuals, the ultimate core is pride and self-centeredness. We can say that we have prayed about a decision, but if we are truly honest, we are relying on our human wisdom (which will always fall short).
The key thing to remember: drifting off course is the human tendency. We all have the capacity to wander off course. The old hymn, Come Thy Fount of Every Blessing, has a perfectly applicable verse: “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love.” But the hymn also includes the prayer we all need to repeat daily:
O, to grace how great a debtor, Daily I'm constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness like a fetter, Bind my wand'ring heart to thee;
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love.
Here's my heart, O take and seal it. Seal it for Thy courts above.
So yes, it is sad to see churches and individuals wander off course. It breaks the heart of God to see drift, whether into moral failures or into self-centeredness. Yet remember, we ALL have that tendency, and we must constantly re-focus our gaze on Jesus. My daily walk with God, with elements of silence, prayer, and Scripture, is less for my knowledge about God, and more about re-orienting my heart once again to walk toward Jesus. Rather than judging the drift of others, I want to focus on my heart, and realign my desires to be God’s desires.
So today—once again—orient your heart and the heart of your church, to be like Jesus. It is never too late to get back on the trail.
One Question
What difficult actions are you avoiding that would lead you back upslope to the right path?