I sometimes listen to Ryan Michler’s “Order
of Man” podcast. Recently, he spoke about "drift". He used the metaphor of a car that drifts off track on the road comparing it to people getting off track in life.
Michler defined drift as the tendency of people to take their hands off the steering wheel of life, being controlled and at the mercy of all that life offers.
I use that metaphor for a life of faith in Christ and the issues we face. Drift is when we take our eyes of Christ and come under the controlled and mercy of all the worldly life offers.
Have
you every driven down the road and suddenly find yourself driving on the rumble
strips? That’s the result of drift. Those bumps and grooves on the road are
designed to keep you in the correct lane and prevent you from running off the
road or into the wrong lane.
That’s
pretty much the problem of the world and the problem in people’s faith.
On
the road, rumble strips are there to minimize your drift. Christ and his church
are the rumble strips of Christian faith.
The
problem with drift is that if it is not corrected, you end up someplace you don’t
want to be. Drift can cause catastrophe in a person’s life. You drift into sin,
into bad relationships, into bad habits, into addictions, into affairs, and more. That drift pulls us farther and farther
away from Christ Jesus.
The
things that cause drift from God are:
·
Being distracted by
the world.
·
Being discouraged in
faith by friends and even family.
·
Being inattentive to focus
on what is important.
Drift
can take you places you are not interested in going. Thinking about drift, God,
and self maybe we can say that by loving yourself you drift from love of God and
by loving God your drift from love of self.
Now,
most men know drift on the road does not happen if your wife or your mother is
with you. You may take that as a joke; but, it is truth. They hold you
accountable. The rumble strips hold you accountable and accountability stops the
drift.
Maybe
this is the secret behind Jesus’ parable today.
The
father asks his two sons to go and work in the vineyard. One says he will not; but, he changes his mind
and goes to the vineyard. The second said “Yes sir, but did not go.”
They
both suffered from drift. In both cases,
the sons got off the path they should have been traveling. The first son,
realize he was drifting and corrected himself. Maybe, his father held him
accountable.
The
second son started on the right path, but soon was going to a place he was
probably not interested in going.
Someday,
each and every one us is going to be held accountable.
Jesus
tells us the tax collectors and prostitutes who will be
entering the kingdom of heaven before those who think they are on the straight
and narrow path.
Sinners
know they are a drift and not on the right path. They have run over the rumble
strips so they look for the right direction.
Jesus
refers to this as way of righteousness that John
preached.
The
self-righteous don’t know that path. Those are ones who will drift to the wrong
place. They have taken their hands off the steering wheel of their faith and
let the world control them. They will
think the road is safe and clear; but, they are about to be wrecked.
The
way to correct the drift is not out of selfishness or
out of vainglory. It is by humbly regarding others as more important and
looking out for the interest of others.
God
sent His word to hold us accountable. Jesus Christ established his Church to hold
us accountable.
But,
Christians have taken their hands off the steering wheel. They have drifted off
the path. The world says, "The LORD's way is not
fair!"
Because
of drift you focus too much on you. That’s not what being a Christian is about. Instead, have in you the attitude of Christ Jesus.
Yall
be good, yall be holy and preach the gospel by the way you live and love. Amen.
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