This post has been long in my thoughts and on my heart.

I have been busy with work and my business and haven’t written anything since the summer – probably the longest pause since I began this blog. During the past summer, I went to a Bible camp in NY for 6 weeks. It was an amazing time of fellowship, getting to meet new people, relax and see some nature. But, most importantly, it was a special time to just study God’s Word. Taking time off to do just that was just what I needed.

When I got back from the US, I realised I kept hearing of more and more of people, especially teens and young adults I know, who are no longer walking with the Lord. Whether or not they were saved in the first place is a matter between them and God. But, these are people who have come from believing families, gone to youth camps, attended youth groups and even army preparation programs for believers. And so with some, it really came as a shock to hear they were no longer in fellowship and no longer considering themselves believers. What went wrong? What happened?

Around the same time that I was thinking about so many who had drifted away, my brother gave a message in our congregation about “Drifting” – how people end up leaving the faith, the process of compromise which numbs our senses and makes us apathetic to things of the world which contradict God’s Word.

Drifting is, indeed, a process. In the words of the song by “Casting Crowns”, it’s “A Slow Fade”. It doesn’t happen at once, but little by little, as things which were once clear and obvious, become blurred and shaken. They become okay to do or become involved with, not so bad. Music, movies and video games, which contained material which only a short while back would have been considered as not proper for true Bible believers to listen to or watch or play somehow became “OK” for us. After all, it’s only “just” a movie, or “just” a video game, or “just” music. Hey, it’s “just” a joke, people know we’re kidding. No need to be so serious or legalistic, right? Well, no. It’s not “just” any of those things. When we allow something that blatantly contradicts God and his Word to have a place in our lives, it affects us and takes its toll on our walk with the Lord. We wouldn’t watch a movie that exalts a “god”, if the Lord Yeshua were sitting next to us. We wouldn’t play a violent game if He sat next to us. We wouldn’t watch that sex scene, even if “you can’t really see anything”, if the Lord of Glory were sitting next to us. We wouldn’t say those words or joke about the Bible if the Living Word was physical present with us. Did we forgot? He is with us all the time. Just because we can’t see Him physically, does that justify immoral and ungodly behaviour?

Some of our personal choices that cause a slow fade in our lives can affect others as well. We often wonder why many youths drift away, why so many who have grown up in the faith and decide to leave it. Children from a young age are influenced by those around them who shape their lives and they try to imitate them, for better and for worse. If a person gossips about someone in the fellowship, should they wonder if their child has no respect for that person? If a parent keeps looking at his watch and moves around murmuring when will the sermon be over (because, hey, the speaker is 10 minutes over his time), should they wonder if their children have no patience or desire to sit in the congregation? If a child sees no difference between the world and those in the body of Yeshua, in their attitude toward people, in their choices everyday, in what they allow to enter their eyes and ears, in what comes out of their mouths, why should we be shocked that they choose to leave the faith? People, especially young people, tend to judge the Lord Yeshua based on what they see in those who claim to be believers. People are not perfect. The only one we should keep our eyes on is the Lord Yeshua. He was and is and always will be the One to look upon and to turn to. It is true that people are responsible for their own choices. But, we need to remember that with great privileges come great responsibility as well and that our choices could, sometimes, push others away from following the Lord.

Oh, for wisdom to make choices that honour the Lord and draw others to Him. Oh, for discernment to see some who are drifting and to tow them back to the Anchor of our souls.

© Hannah Kramer

It’s a slow fade – Casting Crowns