Undisputed — Over Creation - Friday
Today’s Verse
Colossians 1:23
But you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News. The Good News has been preached all over the world, and I, Paul, have been appointed as God’s servant to proclaim it. (NLT)
When I am at the beach, I am in the ocean for 90% of the time, only coming back to shore to reapply sunscreen. I don’t know what it is, but I just love being in that salty water, feeling the movement of the waves and the current. This has been true for as long as I can remember.
In fact, one summer when I was about six years old, my family took a trip to the beach. Once we were at the beach, I did what I always do… set all my stuff down, applied sunscreen, and took off towards the water. For whatever reason, I was the only one in my family who wanted to be out in the water first thing, so I just swam out there on my own. And before you begin to question whether or not my parents love or care about me, my dad did have his eyes on me the entire time.
I’d never swum far out into the ocean, but this one particular time I did happen to get caught up in the movement of the current, and I ended up drifting down the shore. Eventually, I turned around to double-check and make sure I could still see my parents, and I realized I couldn’t! I swam back onto the shore, and began rushing all around the beach looking for my parents in a panic. I thought I had drifted so far away, even though I had only drifted several yards.
Then my dad, who had been watching me the whole time, noticed that I was looking very panicked, crying out for my parents. He got up, and began towards me, calling out my name. I remember running and collapsing into his arms, crying because I was so scared that I had drifted so far away from them.
How often does this happen in our relationship with Jesus?
Just like my six-year-old self was so distracted by the feel of the ocean, we too find ourselves distracted by life’s many demands. And suddenly, before we know it, we have drifted away from God. We’ve taken our eyes off of Him, and when we turn back around to see where He’s at, we don’t see Him initially. He feels far off and distant.
This is why Paul, when writing to a church in a city called Colossae, urged his readers not to let themselves drift away from the assurance they received when they heard the Good News of Jesus.
Paul urged the people of the church in Colossae to be on guard against drifting away from Jesus, because he knew it could happen!
Lucky for us, we have a Father who has His eyes on us at all times. While we may feel like God is far off, while we may have drifted further away from God than we’d like to admit, God knows exactly where we are, and He will come running and calling out our name the moment we start searching for Him.
REFLECTION
So, search for Him! Call out to Him! Do not allow yourself to drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News of Jesus!