Spiritual Drift

I am growing increasingly concerned about the spiritual drift I am seeing in men and women of faith. This drift is the subtle yet deadly slide away from what I will refer to as being spiritual dead-center. It's a cooling of our passion for Christ. It's the increasing ease with which we justify sin. It's the lack of compassion for those who do not yet know Christ.

I call it spiritual drift because it happens slowly, almost imperceptibly. I liken it to the times I've been swimming in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Coronado Island. The waves slowly pull you out to sea, especially when there is a rip tide. You don't notice it at first, but before you know it, you are farther from shore than you intended. And the danger with a rip tide is that even a strong swimmer has difficulty breaking free of its grasp.

How do we avoid spiritual drift?
1. Realize that it exists. Don't pretend you can't be drawn away from your spiritual center.
2. Reaffirm your commitment to Christ. Is He truly the Leader of your life?
3. Replenish yourself daily. Don't neglect the spiritual disciplines of Bible reading, prayer, fasting, solitude, giving, meditation, etc.
4. Remain accountable. There is no substitute for accountability. Have someone who is ahead of spiritually to look up to. Have someone you are mentoring to look up to you. Stay in relationship.
5. Repent. The moment you sense you have sinned, confess it for what it is and seek forgiveness.

These are just a few ideas. What do you do to avoid spiritual drift?

Don't Forget to Vote

This Tuesday is the mid-term election. There are those who are saying this is the most important election cycle in the past 100 years. The accuracy of that statement may be suspect, but the importance of this election cannot be overstated.

Many surveys indicate the economy is the most important issue this election. I disagree. I believe the moral fiber of our nation is at stake. We have become a post-Christian nation due to the apathy Christians have shown in the electoral process since the 1960's. Think about it. Had we voted with conviction back then, things like school prayer and Bible reading would have remained in our schools. I know the courts made the decision to eliminate these things, but who appoints the judges? The people we elect! Since then we've experienced Roe vs. Wade and a plethora of laws designed to remove God from civic life.

It's time to take our privileges as Americans seriously. Vote. Connect with civic leaders. Let those who are doing the right things know, and let those who are not know that their actions are being evaluated.

Our daughter Bekah recently had a choir concert at school. The choir director selected several spiritual numbers for the various choirs to sing. I made sure to thank him after the concert for his stand. He blessed me when he said that the day he can't do that he's out. He is a believer and is committed to sharing his faith within the boundaries established by his superiors. But share he does! I know he was glad to hear of our support.

So let's get out there on November 2 and communicate our collective conscience. The moral fiber of our nation is at stake. You will make a difference when you vote. And you will make a difference if you don't. To abstain from voting is to say that you approve of the anti-God agenda being forced through Congress. No matter what the liberal media says, this is a nation that was founded "under God." Let's keep it that way!

Spiritual Horticulture

My son, Jonathan, is very talented. He is a welder by trade. He is one of the rare individuals who knew when he was young (sixth grade to be exact) what career he wanted to pursue. He is certified to use four or five different types of welding machines.

But Jon has another talent that has come to light over the past couple of years and has taken us all by surprise. He is a gifted horticulturalist. Jon can grow just about anything. He has acquired an amazing amount of knowledge about various plants and flowers. He put together several amazing flower beds around our home and our garden this year was more productive than anything I've ever done. Jon puts in many hours of work in caring for his hobby, and he receives great enjoyment in seeing the end product. When a particular flower blooms, he takes dozens of pictures so he can share the fruit of his labor with friends and family. I'm glad my son has this hobby and that he receives so much joy from it.

Here's a question to ponder: Are we spiritual horticulturalists? Do we put loving effort into our spiritual growth? Do we nurture our development? Do we produce fruit that others can enjoy?

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law." Galatians 5:22

Prayer and Fasting

I watched a great web cast last night. It featured Dr. Jim Garlow, senior pastor of Skyline Wesleyan Church in San Diego. He had a number of guests including Chuck Colson. They challenged believers to do a couple of things.

First, read the Manhattan Declaration. It is a call to Christian conscience. I would encourage you to read it. It addresses the sanctity of life, the biblical definition of marriage, and the struggle for religious liberty. You can simply Google it and find the document.

Second, Colson, Garlow and others are calling on Christians in America to fast and pray for 40 days, September 20 - October 30. We need to focus our hearts toward God during this pivotal election period, as well as for the heart of America itself. Some of you may be able to fast a meal a day. Others for health reasons may have to find something else to fast. The key isn't what you fast, but that you give that time to prayer and ask God to change hearts.

If you want more information, go to Colson's website: http://www.breakpoint.org/.

Defining Biblical Christianity

I have become increasingly concerned about the "dumbing down" of faith in our churches. I fear that we (the Church in general) have become so attraction-oriented that we have failed to teach our people doctrine. The easy believe-ism that has dominated the faith landscape has produced a void of understanding about what a Christ-centered faith is all about. Too many Christians don't read the Bible any more (I don't care what Gallup numbers may say). Too many pastors aren't teaching doctrine. They are afraid that people won't come to church if it isn't entertaining.

So when we have Glenn Beck calling America back to God, many evangelical Christians are jumping on the bandwagon and applauding his message. It's true that we must return to our God. But here's the rub - Glenn Beck is a Mormon. I appreciate his political conservatism. He has crafted an agenda and a position of influence. But Mormonism isn't Biblical Christianity! The doctrine of the Mormon church is not biblically sound and is in a state of constant change. Every new leader brings his own version of revelation to the table. The Book of Mormon even has supremacy over the Bible as far as Mormons are concerned. So when I hear Joel Osteen sharing with Pat Robertson that Glenn Beck is a Christian and I hear them both applauding this, I can't help but cringe.

I'm not writing to attack the Mormons, Joel Osteen, or Pat Robertson. I challenging my fellow pastors and teaching friends to join me in preaching doctrine in such a way as to inform and transform our people. Let's lift Christ higher than we ever have. Let's teach truth in an uncompromising fashion. Let's be unapologetic in our stand that the Bible is the only source of truth and that God is speaking - to us! Our people need to know what it is they believe when they say that they are following Jesus. If you and I don't teach the truth, they will look elsewhere. And who knows what they will find!

"Biblical Christians approach the Bible with reverence and respect, because they believe it is true and authoritative - that it contains God's very words." (Fritz Ridenour in So What's the Difference)

Just for Laughs

When I first started blogging, my oldest daughter, Sarah, requested that I include some humor from time to time. I'm sure she was referring to things that I do that would make others laugh. I haven't written for some time, but I ran across these short blips that I hope will cause you to chuckle a bit.

Did you hear about the new line of Elvis Presley-themed steakhouses? They will be for people who love meat tender.

Ever since my friend had all the digits amputated from his feet, I find him annoying. I think I might be lack-toes intolerant.

How do two snails settle their differences? They slug it out.

Our local Catholic church has plans to bring its parishioners to services by bus. They plan to call it mass transit.

Did you hear the one about the man who dreamed he was a muffler on a car, and then that he was part of the wheel? He woke up exhausted and tired.

A jumper cable walks into a bar and looks around aggressively at the other customers. The bartender says, "All right, I'll serve you, but don't start anything."

My biologist friend tells me that constantly developing new varieties of plants can be a strain.

What do you call four matadors in quicksand? Quatro sinko.

What is an archaeologist? Someone whose career is in ruins.

Had enough?

Gone Fishin'

I just returned from our annual summer camping vacation in upstate New York. Cayuga Lake is always beautiful, and it's nice to spend time with my wife's family.

One of my favorite things to do on vacation is to fish. My brother-in-law and I get up every morning at 5 AM, get on his boat, and fish for about four hours. Some years the fishing is great. This year it wasn't so good. The surface water was too warm for the fish we go after. About mid-week, the lake did a "turn over," but even though the water was cooler, the fish were skittish and we didn't catch as many as we would have liked. But even though the conditions were not ideal, it didn't stop us from going fishing. We still got up every morning at 5 AM with the hope of catching fish.

Do those of us who call ourselves Christians or church leaders have that kind of desire to catch fish? Jesus called His disciples (both then and now) to be fishers of men (see Mark 1:17). He said that He came for but one purpose - to seek and to save the lost (Luke 19:10). Jesus' life was that of "fishing" for those who needed Him the most. Do we do that? My friend, Chris Conrad, wrote a book entitled, "Your Church Can Win." He mentioned some disturbing stats that come from our Wesleyan "tribe." A year ago, 400 of our 1700+ churches didn't report a single salvation. The year before that it was 168. Those same churches spent over $13 million doing ministry without seeing a single soul won to Christ.

I'm not out to crucify those churches. When I look at my own ministry and our church, we do a lot of good things but we aren't really reaching the lost in a significant way. We do a lot of good things related to ministry, but our focus really hasn't been on others. Oh, we talk about reaching the unchurched, and we encourage our people to be missional. And in many ways we are. But the sad part is that very few people have come to Christ through our ministries this past year. The church grew, but that was in large part due to transfer growth - people who left another church to attend ours. That's not growth - that's simply shuffling the deck! A truly missional emphasis will result in people being saved and brought into the Kingdom of God. Anything less is merely being a social service agency that does good for self-gratification.

I'm frustrated, but perhaps more so with my own failure in this area. I need to recommit myself to the task of reaching souls. I can no longer allow myself to be distracted by my administrative responsibilities at the local and district levels. God forgive me for failing to be a soul winner in recent years. I'm going back to keeping the main thing the main thing.

Gone fishin'.