He's paddling along, lazily enjoying a Sunday afternoon on the water. This is like a man who's drifting on a boat down the Niagara River - heading toward the Falls. It never occurs to them they've neglected Jesus! That's true - they are usually very kind, loving people.īut they don't see the danger ahead. And I'll do anything I can to help somebody." I don't run around - I'm a family person. They say, "So what if I don't go to church or act very religious? I haven't changed that much. Most drifters do not see themselves as wicked or as being in any danger. Every day they are slowly drifting away from everything they once knew and loved - leaving Jesus and heading in the opposite direction! Yet today you know them as different people. You remember the former days when certain people were tender, full of love for the Lord, praising and worshiping the Savior in God's house. All of Us Know Friends, Family or Acquaintances Who Once Walked Close to Jesus - Yet Who Are Now Drifting Away From Christ! I had been a reminder to him and a rebuke - and now, in his need, he couldn't face it. The last time I saw this man, he had lost his prestigious position - and he was staggering past our church, drunk. I was a reminder of what his life should have been - and he resented it! When I came on the scene years later, invading his world, it brought up all the old memories: of church, God's Word, Jesus, his calling. His respect for the things of the Lord had lingered but as he drifted farther away, it became easier for him to curse God and mock other believers. Eventually he began to distance himself from his experience with Christ - and he began to drink heavily. He buried himself in work and ended up on Broadway, involved with theater celebrities. He quit going to church, reading his Bible and talking to the Lord. He didn't turn his back on Jesus he simply neglected Him. But later, in his early twenties, he began to drift. He had heard the Lord say, "Give Me your life!" - and he received a call to preach the gospel.Īfter that, he had a caring heart for people and a true love for Jesus. And when he did, I was shocked to find out this Broadway executive had had a powerful experience with Christ when a he was a teenager! The Spirit had come upon him powerfully, and he had broken down, weeping. One day, as we sat in a restaurant, he began to open his heart to me. I thought, "What is it about me that makes this man so nervous?" So I began to pray for him - and I set out to win his friendship. I was hurt by his actions - and I wondered why he singled me out for such cruelty. If we were walking somewhere together, he'd walk ten feet ahead. He didn't even want to be in the same room with me. I didn't really know the man - but he acted as if he could not stand to be near me, as if I had a contagious disease. * A Broadway theater executive was especially rude to me during the time our ministry was negotiating to buy the Mark Hellinger Theater. Now he sounds as if he would like to forget it all completely. And eventually, everything he was taught and had in a relationship with Jesus became only dim memories. You could sense he was drifting farther and farther away from his roots! He has forgotten the early days of going to church so often, praying for the sick, interceding into the wee hours, witnessing in the street, worshiping and crying out with tears, "Jesus, I love You!"īy the language he used, he seemed to want to put a distance between himself and his past. Yet today it is but a fading memory to him. He remembers what he calls "doomsday preaching" and talk of the Second Coming of the Lord. And as he spoke about his childhood, he told of being raised in a Pentecostal preacher's home. * The New York Times recently profiled a professional basketball coach for one of the top teams in the NBA. You would be shocked to discover how many famous people were followers of the Savior at one time but have drifted away from their spiritual roots: It has ruined multitudes who once were disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ! I believe the Word of God agrees that the sin of drifting away from Christ is the most tragic, dangerous sin of all. Here is a sin that is more vile and shameful than adultery, alcoholism or drug abuse. "For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward how shall we escape, if we neglect so great a salvation" (Hebrews 2:1-3). "Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.
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