Following At A Distance

As Jesus was being arrested, Peter bravely pulls out a sword and cuts off the high priest’s servant’s ear, and then ran for his life. But he never stopped following Jesus; he just now followed at a distance. (Luke 22:54)

What keeps us following God at a distance?

God said it best in Deuteronomy 30.

“But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear, and are drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them, I announce to you today that you shall surely perish.” (Deuteronomy 30:17-18a)

What keeps us following from a distance? The Lord says it begins with a heart shift

Moving away from God doesn’t begin with wrong activity; rather it begins with a move or a shift in one’s heart. It begins with a heart shift away from God. It’s where we no longer love the Lord the way we once did, which begins when we don’t obey God’s word thinking it’s no big thing, and we start substituting the thinking of the world for God’s word.

To the church of Laodicea Jesus said, “I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works.” (Revelation 2:4-5a)

They were doing church for church sake. They were acting the part, but their heart wasn’t in it. They left their loving relationship with Jesus for ritual and tradition.

This drift takes time. It’s a period of neglect, carelessness, and/or rebellion against God and His word. You see this in statements like,
• “Well I don’t have to go to church to be saved.”
• “I don’t have to give the tithe, God doesn’t care, and He doesn’t need it, I do.”
• “I can fudge on my expenses or on my taxes.”
• “God is a God of love, and besides, marriage is just a piece of paper.”

Statements like these reveal our drift and that we’re beginning to follow God from a distance.