Well, I had a “rude awakening” this past week, literally! I
fell out of bed… There I was sound asleep, dreaming I was climbing a ladder and
my feet slipped and … well, I fell out of bed and landed on my chest, cracking
a rib. It has been rather painful this week. There is nothing they can do for
it a doctor friend told me, just take it easy. However in my present job, that
is easier said than done. This too shall pass however and life will continue.
I was reminded of a story I heard years ago about a little
boy who fell out of bed. His parents rushed in to quiet the crying boy and
said, “What happened to you?” to which the boy replied, “I guess I just was
sleeping too close to where I got in.” Of course my mind jumps to the spiritual
application for you and me.
In my years of ministry I have seen so many people start a
new relationship with God and not long after they “fall” away or forget all of
the promises they made to God. The problem is that they never moved from the
edge of the relationship to a better and deeper understanding and relationship
to our God. They might start their relationship with great enthusiasm and then
they begin to feel that it just isn’t working for them or they really don’t
feel any different. They think, when you become a Christian, aren’t you suppose
to feel more holy, more spiritual, isn’t this suppose to help you overcome the
problems in your life?
The problem as I have seen it is that far too often these
folks have stayed right on the edge of the relationship and never delved deeper
and grown in the spirit themselves.
These
are much like the folks spoken of in the book of Hebrews, “We have much to say about this,
but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand.
In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to
teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk,
not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not
acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the
mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from
evil”. (Hebrews 5:11-14) NLT
Humm…
training yourself by a constant use of the word of God… What an idea! You see
that’s what it means to go deeper, to no longer stay on the edge so that you
might “fall” out of the relationship.
Be
careful about staying too close to the edge… you might end up with more than a
cracked rib; you might loose your soul.
