Are You Drifting?
When I was young, our family would take afternoon trips to the beach and set up our spot with a huge red umbrella. I loved to play in the water for hours and just get lost in my thoughts. One afternoon as I was playing around, I eventually swam way out to a second sandbar, and when I stood up to wave to my family, I couldn't see them. I looked and looked, but in the crowd I couldn't find the red umbrella that was my marker. In a panic, I swam back to shore and walked and walked in one direction but I couldn't find them. I turned around and raced back in the other direction until I finally saw the red umbrella. My little girl heart was overjoyed!
I hadn't realized that while I was playing in the water for a few hours, the current had caused me to slowly but subtly drift down the beach away from my family. It's like what happens in life sometimes. There are undercurrents that cause us to drift and get off course--anger, bitterness, unforgiveness, the wrong friends. One man told me, "I just got in the wrong crowd and slowly drifted away from God." A woman said, "My husband and I were so happy early in our marriage. But now we've drifted apart and argue and fight. We're separated." These are the results of not being on guard against the undercurrents in our life that cause us to drift from our set point.
The same was true for Samson. Before his birth, an angel declared he would become a man of great destiny (Judges 13). God gifted him with supernatural strength to deliver his people from an enemy nation. But Samson let his guard down, set his eyes upon what he knew was wrong, and drifted into the wrong living situation with the wrong people. Just as the Bible states, "Bad company corrupts good character" (1 Corinthians 15:33), so it was with Samson. He did not guard what he was doing or saying, and he ended up in the hands of his enemies. Just think of what Samson could have become if he would have checked his heart, realigned his focus, asked for forgiveness, and turned from his sin.
The apostle Paul says, "Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things" (Colossians 3:2). That means to set your mind on the important things in life--the things that cause you to have a strong marriage, good relationships, and a great job. Set your mind to walk in integrity and to lay aside every weight and sin that causes you to drift. Set your mind to honor God in all you do--big and small!
I hadn't realized that while I was playing in the water for a few hours, the current had caused me to slowly but subtly drift down the beach away from my family. It's like what happens in life sometimes. There are undercurrents that cause us to drift and get off course--anger, bitterness, unforgiveness, the wrong friends. One man told me, "I just got in the wrong crowd and slowly drifted away from God." A woman said, "My husband and I were so happy early in our marriage. But now we've drifted apart and argue and fight. We're separated." These are the results of not being on guard against the undercurrents in our life that cause us to drift from our set point.
The same was true for Samson. Before his birth, an angel declared he would become a man of great destiny (Judges 13). God gifted him with supernatural strength to deliver his people from an enemy nation. But Samson let his guard down, set his eyes upon what he knew was wrong, and drifted into the wrong living situation with the wrong people. Just as the Bible states, "Bad company corrupts good character" (1 Corinthians 15:33), so it was with Samson. He did not guard what he was doing or saying, and he ended up in the hands of his enemies. Just think of what Samson could have become if he would have checked his heart, realigned his focus, asked for forgiveness, and turned from his sin.
The apostle Paul says, "Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things" (Colossians 3:2). That means to set your mind on the important things in life--the things that cause you to have a strong marriage, good relationships, and a great job. Set your mind to walk in integrity and to lay aside every weight and sin that causes you to drift. Set your mind to honor God in all you do--big and small!