Drifting
August 21, 2002Hebrews 2:1 says, “We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.”
When I was eight years-old, I went fishing by myself for the first time. It turned into one of the scariest experiences of my life as the shoreline got further and further away. I ended up on the other side of the lake because that’s where the current carried me! My oars weren’t strong enough and my anchor wasn’t deep enough to keep me from drifting. I learned a lesson: when the current is stronger than you are, you’re going to drift. And you usually end up where you never intended to go.
We live in a culture with lots of undercurrents that will take us where we don’t want to go if we let them. And before we know it we’ve compromised our values or settled for second best. That’s drifting. Here are four of Webster’s definitions:
to be carried along by the current
a gradual shift in attitude, opinion, or position
to take the path of least resistance
to deviate from a set course
All of us have drifted in different areas at different times. The question is: how do we stop? Here are two keys: reestablishing boundaries and reestablishing priorities.
Boundary Stones
Proverbs 23:10 says, “Do not move the ancient boundary stone.” A boundary stone was an ancient “no trespassing” sign. It marked a boundary line that should not be moved or crossed. It was a reference point, a line in the sand.
Sometimes drifting is fast and furious. You get in a strong current and before you know it you’re way downstream from where God wants you to be. But more often than not it’s a slow, almost imperceptible process. You make a few bad choices and don’t experience any immediate consequences, but one day you wake up and realize the boundary stone has moved.
You’re listening to or looking at things you would have tuned out or turned off a few years ago. You’re in a relationship that has gone too far too fast. You’re in over your head in debt, but can’t stop spending. You’ve crossed the line where you no longer control your drinking, your drinking controls you. Or you’ve lost that spiritual intensity and consistency you once had.
What happened? The boundary stone moved. You need to reestablish some boundaries. Here’s how you do it. Put the boundary stone back where it belongs! You need to draw a line in the sand and say, “With God’s help, I’m not crossing this line.” That’s what Job does in Job 39:1. He says, “I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully on a woman.” He reestablished boundaries.
Once you put the boundary stone back where it belongs, you need to leave it there! Sometimes that requires outside assistance. It’s a lot easier to leave the boundary stone where it belongs if you’ve asked someone to keep you from moving it. That’s what accountability is all about. An accountability partner is someone who has the freedom to ask the tough questions and speak the truth into our lives.
Is there is an area of your life where you’ve drifted? Has the boundary stone moved? Tell someone. Accountability is offering information before it’s asked for. Part of accountability is the courage to confess. The church needs to be a place where people are open and honest about the good, the bad, and the ugly. James 5:16 says, “Confess your sins to each other.” When we are transparent--open and honest about who we really are--the spiritual tide turns!
Reestablishing boundaries is like playing defense. And defense is important. Proverbs 22:3 says, “A prudent mans sees danger and takes refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it.” But the best defense is a good offense. As Dallas Willard says, “Not going to London or Atlanta is a poor plan for going to New York.” Too often we try to be good by not doing anything bad, but goodness is not the absence of badness. Reestablishing boundaries is about not doing what’s wrong. Reestablishing priorities is about doing what’s right. We can’t just play defense. We also need to play offense.
Busybody
II Thessalonians 3:11 says, “We hear that some among you are idle. You are not busy; you are busybodies.” The Thessalonians had two strikes against them. They were idle. Burnout is over-extending yourself. Idleness is under-extending yourself. They weren’t being stretched spiritually. And Paul calls them “busybodies.” That word means “to busy oneself with useless and needless matters.” The Thessalonians were majoring in minors!
Life is a constant battle between the urgent and the important--those things that demand our attention and those things that deserve our attention. Stephen Covey says, “Anything less than a conscious commitment to the important is an unconscious commitment to the unimportant.” We need to keep the main thing the main thing. That’s what prioritizing is all about.
Legion
Luke 8 records a confrontation between Jesus and a demoniac. Jesus says, “What is your name?” “Legion,” he replied, “because many demons had gone into him.” A legion was a military regiment consisting of up to six thousand Roman soldiers. He was tormented by them day and night. Elizabeth O’Connor uses that passage to make a profound point. She says, “My name is ‘Legion’ is the plight of us all.” In a sense, this demoniac had to contend with six thousand competing voices. He was pulled in six thousand different directions. I think sometimes we feel the same way. We are pulled in so many different directions that we have nothing left for God or our families or ourselves!
T.S. Eliot asks a thought-provoking question in one of his poems. He says, “Can life represent one motive?” Confession time. On my best days, I do what I do to glorify God. But even on my best days, there is a little ego mixed in. I do what I do to glorify God and myself. I have mixed-motives.
The ancient creed says, “The chief end of man is to glorify God.” That is our top priority. That is the ultimate motive. And when we do it, we find that A.W. Tozer was right. “To seek God does not narrow one’s life, but brings it, rather, to the level of highest possible fulfillment.”
Retreating & Reentering
I went on vacation a few weeks ago and made a personal vow not to check email, voicemail or the stock market for one week. Those things demand my attention, but for one week I didn’t pay attention. Instead, I went swimming, caught sand crabs, and chased butterflies with my kids. By the way, nothing is more important than chasing butterflies to a six year-old!
When I reentered the routine I had fresh energy and fresh perspective. That freshness is a natural byproduct of retreating and reentering. Jesus set the example. Read the gospels and you’ll find that he is always retreating and reentering. He’s teaching the multitudes one minute and retreating the next. He’s up late ministering one night and retreating early the next morning. Jesus spends time up in the mountains, down by the lake, and out in the wilderness.
Mark 1:35 says, “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. Simon and his companions went to look for him, and when they found him, they exclaimed: ‘Everyone is looking for you.’ But Jesus replied, ‘Let us go to somewhere else--to the nearby villages--so I can preach there also. That’s why I have come’.”
One of the greatest dangers we face is learning how and forgetting why--we end up just going through the motions or doing the right things for the wrong reasons. Jesus re-identifies the “why” behind the what. He goes to nearby villages to preach. Retreating and reentering is a critical part of reprioritizing.
There are lots of different ways to retreat and reenter. I do it via prayer walks, journaling, focus days, and personal retreats. That’s how I process and prioritize. That’s how I stay fresh.
Here’s your assignment: take a personal retreat. It doesn’t matter when or where you do it. Just get away for half a day and reestablish some boundaries and reestablish some priorities. It only takes a few wrong choices to take us down the wrong path, but the good news is that it only takes a few right choices to get us back on the right track.