Sliding

See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.  Hebrews 3:12-13

Sometimes is life we go along, and find life is at a cross road that we never planned to be. Sometimes, we see it coming, other times it is through little compromises that lead us slowly off the narrow path until we are in the middle of nowhere wondering how we go there.

I think that is where I have been lately.  It is not that I stopped believing, or even stopped doing the things that I need to do.  But somewhere along the way I stopped wanting to do them.  Somewhere along the way, I stopped pressing in and just settled.  Then Wednesday, I found myself hit in the face with it.

I was walking in to church, and I physically slipped, landing on my knees.  I got up, knowing there would be a nice bruise, but oddly not with that embarrassed feeling one gets when falling in public.  I made my way to my chair, and clear as day, God spoke to me that I was slipping spiritually.

Although I was shocked by this revelation, I knew He was right.  My contentment was gone.  I thought that it was because I had been busy.  My schedule had been off, but really I had realigned my priorities.  I had been hit with some pretty difficult circumstances, but really I had taken my eyes off Him as my Helper.  I had slipped back into old patterns after a close encounter with God, because it was easier than pressing in to go deeper.  My connection with other believers had grown distant in my business, so my accountability was gone.  It is easy to do when you are a servant because people get so used to sharing their pain, they look over your struggle.

Climbing back from a slide is humbling.  It is also harder than the slide.  It is very easy to slide, usually you don't realize you have done it until you are far enough away that you hit a bump or the end of the slide.  Climbing back up takes effort because you have to go against the grain.

Here is to climbing back up, may it not be as hard as I think it will be, and may I exceed where I was in my relationship with Him.