Drifting

Devotion for the week.

Our oldest son, Aiden, works on a supply vessel for the offshore oil industry. These are ships that carry supplies, and occasionally personnel, out to the oil rigs. The ships are also the emergency evacuation route for the people working out there in the middle of the ocean, so there's always a supply vessel on standby near each of the rigs. 

They don't anchor when they're on standby; instead they use their Dynamic Positioning System (DPS), which uses GPS and the ship's thrusters to keep them in the same position. With the DPS, the crew don't have to be constantly making adjustments to hold their place, but they also aren't drifting with the ocean currents.

1 Corinthians 10:12 made me think about a ship's DPS. It says, "If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall." It would be easy for a ship to drift on an ocean current, even when it looks and feels like it's staying still. Likewise, it would be easy for us to drift in our walk with God, even when it looks and feels like we're not changing.

It would be easy to drift into complacency.

It would be easy to drift into judgement of others.

It would be easy to drift into small sins that gradually drift into larger ones.

Thankfully, God has given us a version of a DPS to keep us on track. We have the Bible, which acts like our GPS, showing us where we are and where we should be. And we have the Holy Spirit, who nudges us when we start to drift.

If a ship isn't properly receiving and processing the information from GPS, then it may start to drift. Likewise, if we're not receiving and processing information from Bible, we may start to drift, too. That's why we need to be reading our Bibles regularly and thinking about what we read. It's one of the reasons we should be going to church regularly, so we can hear Biblical messages from someone else. It's (hopefully) why you find my weekly devotions helpful. Reading the Bible, and hearing about it from other people, reminds us about God's standard for us and shows us where we are in relation to it.

The Holy Spirit then uses that information to show us how we should change and how we can move closer to His standard. He shows us the small adjustments we need to make to stay standing strong, so we aren't in danger of falling.

If we're paying attention to the Bible and heeding the nudges the Holy Spirit gives, then we can hold our position without drifting away from the standard God would have us follow.