Pastor Tom Cochran

Have you ever been at the beach, playing in the waves, and looked up to realize your beach chair is way off in the distance? You didn't decide to move. You didn't plan to end up there. You just drifted. The same thing happens in our relationship with God, and most of us don't even notice until we look up and realize how far we've gone.

The heart of God is for all of us to encounter and stay in His presence. But if we're not careful, we will drift from presence to casualness, from intentionality to indifference. And here's the thing we need to understand: we do not drift to better. We drift to distance.

What Does It Mean to Drift Spiritually?

Drifting is a normal human experience. You lift weights, you stop lifting weights, and your muscles atrophy. You can't lift the same weight you used to. You were close to somebody in high school or college, your friendship was strong, but then time and distance pulled you apart. You look back and think, we aren't as close as we used to be.

The same principle applies to our spiritual lives. Maybe you've been on fire for God. Maybe you've been pursuing Him with everything you had in a certain season, and then things happened over time. Now you've grown casual. You've grown distant. We don't just casually drift to better or stronger. We drift to distance, every single time.

In Revelation 3:19, Jesus addresses this directly: "I correct and discipline everyone I love. So be diligent and turn from your indifference." He's writing to the church at Laodicea, a church that had everything going for it. They were on fire. They were pursuing Jesus with everything they had. And then they started to drift.

Why Did the Church at Laodicea Drift?

Laodicea was a self-reliant community. When they experienced a natural disaster, the Roman government offered to send resources to help them rebuild. Their response? We don't need your resources. We got this. They had a medical college training and sending out doctors. They had natural springs with health benefits that drew people from all over. They were artists creating clothing. Laodicea had everything going for them, and that success became the very thing that pulled them away from dependence on God.

So Jesus simply says, "I'm knocking at the door. If you open it, I'll come in." He wanted to reconnect with them. He wasn't punishing them. He was pursuing them.

What Does God's Correction Really Look Like?

When Jesus says "I correct and discipline everyone I love," it's important to understand what He means. Correction is simply God saying there's a better way. There's a better way to live, a better way to go about what you're doing.

And discipline? Discipline is not punishment. Many of us grew up where discipline and punishment were the same thing. But biblical discipline is actually coaching. It's training. Jesus is saying to the church, "I want you to see that there's a better way, and then I'm going to come alongside you and coach you along the way."

The word diligent in this verse means intentional. Are you intentionally pursuing God, or have you grown indifferent? Are you leaning into His coaching, or have you drifted into autopilot?

How Spiritual Drift Leads to Temptation and Fall

There's a sobering example of this in Scripture. King David was passionately pursuing God, and then there came a moment where he grew comfortable and casual. Second Samuel tells us he stepped up onto the roof of his house and began looking out over everything.

In that comfortable, casual posture, he saw a woman bathing. He began to lust after her. He sent an attendant to bring her to him, forced himself on her, and sent her home. When she sent word that she was pregnant, David tried to cover it up by bringing her husband Uriah home from battle, hoping Uriah would go be with his wife. But Uriah refused, twice. So David sent a sealed order back with Uriah to the commander: put Uriah where the fighting is fiercest, then pull back and let him die.

David committed adultery, rape, and murder. And it all started with a drift that led to temptation that ended in a fall.

What Causes Your Drift?

We may not be where David was, but drift shows up in all of our lives. Maybe you get busy running and pursuing and doing all these great, amazing things, and you drift from your time with the Lord. Then the enemy sits on your shoulder and starts chirping: You've got to be better. You can't make mistakes. That's going to lead to embarrassment, humiliation, and shame. And before you know it, everything you do is about protecting yourself instead of connecting with God.

Maybe you're tired and you grab your phone late at night. You're doomscrolling, and your algorithm starts picking up things it shouldn't. Now you're sitting there in the middle of the night looking at images and videos you never should have been looking at. It all started because you were simply tired and grew casual.

Or maybe in your casualness, you begin hearing all the voices of negativity around you. They keep talking and chirping, and you start believing them. Then not only do you believe them, but you fall into sharing the negativity and perpetuating the cycle.

What is the thing you may have fallen into that started because of a drift into temptation?

How to Stop the Drift: Surrender and Invitation

The way David stopped his drift is the same way we stop ours. We stop the drift to casual by changing our posture. Our posture needs to be one of surrender and invitation.

David had to lean in and say, "God, I have to recognize that I'm self-reliant and prideful. I'm arrogant. I need to pull back. There's a better way." He began to take a posture of humility and surrender. He confessed his sins and turned back to God.

We have a record of it in Psalm 51:7-9: "Purify me from my sin, and I will be clean. Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Give me back my joy again, for You have broken me. Now let me rejoice. Don't keep looking at my sin. Remove the stain of my guilt."

This is the idea of correction. God, You're telling me there's a better way? I'm surrendering. I'm humbling myself. I recognize that there's a better way.

The Power of Invitation

Then David leans in with intentionality and extends an invitation for God to show up. Psalm 51:10-11 says, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a loyal spirit within me. Do not banish me from Your presence. Do not take Your Holy Spirit from me."

The idea of invitation is simply this: God, would You renew Your Spirit? Would You come back in again? I recognize there's a better way, and now, God, would You by Your Spirit coach me along the way?

This is a reflection back to Revelation 3:19. This is how we stop the drift. God, I recognize there's a better way, and it's not the way I've been going. So I'm going to stop. I'm going to surrender. I'm going to say, I see the way You want me to go, God, and I choose that. Now, will You help me take the steps I need to take to go that way?

David Didn't Fear Correction, He Feared Separation

Here's the key to understanding David's prayer: David doesn't fear correction. He fears separation. David recognizes that the cost of casual is separation. That's why he prays, "Don't take Your Spirit from me." Do you hear the desperation in his voice in that moment?

God, I recognize that my sin has separated me from You. The Bible tells us that we've fallen short of God's glory, that we're separated because of our sin. David recognizes it, confesses it, and repents because he's opening the door of his heart to connect with God on a deeper level.

And that's how doors work. They work two ways. They let people in, but they also keep people out. If we don't change our posture, we may stay in casual and keep out the very One who wants to come in and be in relationship with us.

What would it look like for you to invite God into your job, your parenting, your relationships, your marriage? What would it look like to pause and to see God? Because the heart of God is for you to encounter and stay in His presence. He's knocking. The question is whether you'll open the door.