Are you growing or drifting away from God?

We’re never standing still when it comes to spiritual things. Either we’re growing and becoming more like Christ or we are drifting away from God. Worse yet, like Solomon, we can get comfortable or even play around with sin, thinking we’re too smart to get caught in its snares. But if we do, we could find ourselves heading down a slippery slope.

And in our New Testament reading, Jesus rides into Jerusalem after a meal with His friends Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. As He does, the people welcome Him by praising God and throwing palm branches in front of Him. But in five days, they would be yelling, “Crucify Him!” Have you ever wondered how people could be praising Him one day and crying for His death in almost the next breath? And could there be a parallel between that and some people we know who are excited about the things of God one minute and nowhere to be found the next?

Today’s Readings:

1 Kings 11 & 12
Psalm 69.5-15
Proverbs 17.20-22
John 12.1-26

Are You Growing or Drifting Away from God?

1 Kings 11 & 12:

A Great Start

Once we begin to focus on things other than God, we can easily slide into greater and greater sins. Solomon’s life is a powerful example. He seemed to start out so well. 1 Kings 3:

⁶ And Solomon said, “You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant David my father, because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart toward you. And you have kept for him this great and steadfast love and have given him a son to sit on his throne this day. ⁷ And now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of David my father, although I am but a little child. I do not know how to go out or come in. ⁸ And your servant is in the midst of your people whom you have chosen, a great people, too many to be numbered or counted for multitude. ⁹ Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people?”

¹⁰ It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this. ¹¹ And God said to him, “Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches or the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, ¹² behold, I now do according to your word. Behold, I give you a wise and discerning mind, so that none like you has been before you and none like you shall arise after you. ¹³ I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that no other king shall compare with you, all your days. ¹⁴ And if you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days.”

A Slippery Slope

But in spite of his great start, Solomon began taking foreign wives. He loved them and became sympathetic to their desire to worship their own gods. He was headed down a slippery slope (Rom. 1.18-32). Eventually, he worshiped them, too!

We can easily do the same thing by dating or getting into close relationships, business or otherwise, with people who aren’t serving God wholeheartedly, if at all. We reason that we’ll change them, but many times we find ourselves drifting away from God.

And once Solomon had compromised the nation by reintroducing idolatry and false religions, the nation as a whole not only lost spiritual strength but political strength, as well. Fast forward to today and look at the loss of respect and influence that has come to our nation as we continue to walk away from God and His truths!

When God’s Word is no longer the standard of right and wrong, then everyone begins to do that which is right in his own eyes, just as the people did during the time of the Judges in Israel. It always leads to lawlessness and disaster.

Not Drifting Away from God but Growing

Neither is it enough to think we can stand still when it comes to spiritual things. Living things grow. If we are alive in Christ, we should be growing in Him. Peter said we are to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Pet. 3.18).

We should be becoming progressively more like Him in our desires, our thoughts, our behavior, and our character.

The writer of Hebrews rebuked his readers because they were not growing:

¹¹ There is much more we would like to say about this, but it is difficult to explain, especially since you are spiritually dull and don’t seem to listen. ¹² You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God’s word. You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food. ¹³ For someone who lives on milk is still an infant and doesn’t know how to do what is right. ¹⁴ Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong (Heb. 5.11-14 NLT).

We grow by reading and studying God’s Word and by applying it to our lives. Mere head knowledge won’t do.  But as we behold Jesus in His Word, cultivate a desire for it and rely on God to help us obey it, the Holy Spirit works in us transforming us into His image (2 Cor. 3.18). We won’t arrive in this life but we should be more like Him today than we were yesterday and less than we will be tomorrow.

Today’s Other Readings:

John 12.1-26:

Crucify Him

Here in chapter 12, the people welcomed Jesus as He came into Jerusalem, praising God and throwing palm branches in front of Him, the event we celebrate on Palm Sunday.

¹² The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, ¹³ took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out:

Have you ever wondered how they could be praising Him one day and almost in the next breath turning on Him? Perhaps verses 17 and 18 give us a clue.

¹⁷ Therefore the people, who were with Him when He called Lazarus out of his tomb and raised him from the dead, bore witness. ¹⁸ For this reason the people also met Him, because they heard that He had done this sign. 

It seems that some who had witnessed Lazarus’ resurrection had traveled to Jerusalem and were talking about what had happened. Perhaps many in the crowd came to meet Him because they had heard their testimony. So did they come because they recognized Him as the Messiah or to see a miracle worker?

If you remember in John 6.26 Jesus told the people:

Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.

The people failed to see that the signs He performed pointed to Him as Messiah and, instead, came because of what they thought He could do for them.

Today we see much the same thing.

Just Ask Jesus into Your Heart

Many come to God because they have been told all they have to do is ask Jesus into their hearts. Then if they have faith He will heal their bodies, make them rich, and give them their best life now. This false faith and prosperity doctrine leads to a shallow version of Christianity where there is no need for repentance, no explanation of the need to count the cost, or for perseverance and progressive sanctification.

Just like the fickle people who shouted “Hosannah” one minute and “Crucify Him” the next, they can be excited about spiritual things one minute and drift away from God the next. When their child rebels, someone close to them gets cancer, or life doesn’t turn out the way they want, they can become angry or disillusioned and even walk away altogether. In many cases, they were never truly regenerated (Matt. 7.21-23).

Right doctrine matters because the truth always matters. But it is also important if we are to stay faithful and strong to the end.

Psalm 69.5-15:

Intolerant Fanatics or Just Zealous for God?

Because zeal for Your house has eaten me up, and the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me (v. 9).

Have you ever been called a “fanatic” because you are sold out to God? Today, the favorite label of the media and those who don’t want to follow God’s standard is “intolerant.”

We do need to be tolerant of the weaknesses of others and come alongside them when necessary to help them find or be restored to God. But when it comes to sin, we need to be “intolerant,” first and foremost in our own lives. We should learn to hate our own sin and not try to justify it or blame others. And while we are to love other people caught in sin, we cannot say that their sin is acceptable.

Proverbs 17.20-22:

Looking for Trouble

He who has a deceitful heart finds no good, and he who has a perverse tongue falls into evil (v. 20).

Or as many a parent has warned her children, “If you go looking for trouble, you will find it!”

What About You? Questions to Ponder or Journal:

Is there any area where you have begun to compromise in your thoughts, words, or actions? Could you be on a slippery slope? What do you need to do about it? Do you need to end a relationship? Change a behavior? Seek counsel? Get back into church?

Trust God and take that step of obedience.

Coming Up:

In the coming days, we’ll talk about the danger of bad advice, the importance of consequences in parenting, the trouble with America, the importance of godly friends, the cost of doing what’s right, the cost of laziness, and living based on the hope that is within us.

I hope you’ll sign up so you don’t miss any of them. You might also like to check out our YouTube channel.

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Blessings as you grow in Christ,
Donna ♥

Note about this post:

I began blogging through the Bible in 2012 and have done so every year since then. These posts are the product of many edits and additions throughout those years. Some days I make major changes, other days fewer. 

A while ago, I read Jen Wilkin’s book None Like Him about the attributes of God. One is His incomprehensibility. In it, she says, “God is incomprehensible. This does not mean that he is unknowable, but that he is unable to be fully known.”

I have found that to be true each year as I’ve gone back through the Bible. Sometimes I find myself feeling as if a passage just appeared there for the first time. I’m reminded that no matter how many times we read through the Bible, we have only scratched the surface. I hope you feel the same.

Indeed these are the mere edges of His ways,
And how small a whisper we hear of Him!
But the thunder of His power who can understand?” (Job 26.14)

I sometimes LINKUP with these blogs.