Deeper Water - Part 6

Water in streams, rivers and canals always has a current. Sometimes the current is strong enough where you can see it flowing through the water. Other times the current is milder and, while you can’t actually see it, you can see its effects - like on floating objects.

I read a great book called Mission Drift. It was the study of several organizations and how some of them had drifted away from their original purpose and some had not. Entities like Chick-fil-A and Harvard University were included in the study and companies either fell into the category of Mission True or Mission Drift organizations. What is interesting about their findings is the companies on each side had common characteristics depending on whether they stayed True or experienced Drift. (Now that I think about it, that might be a great blog series to do at some point.) Stay tuned…

As individuals, we too can either stay “true to our mission” or we can experience “drift.” The scary part is that the drift can be very subtle, just like the slow currents of a river. We may not even notice it but over time it can change our course dramatically.

Culture has a current. In some ways it can be very obvious and in other ways it can be quite subtle. Subtle currents are dangerous because we can be taken downstream by the current without even knowing it. Our beliefs, values and even what we might consider to be sin or not can all be impacted by cultural influences.

We desperately need to explore how much of our understanding of the gospel is American and how much is biblical.” David Platt, Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream

The quote from David Platt is very challenging but also quite true. We have to be careful not to filter our beliefs through the lens of the American Dream. The Bible wasn’t written specifically to Americans; it was written to believers everywhere.

Could your deeper water be the recognition of some drift in an area of your life? Values, views about sin, prosperity etc… All of these need to be checked against Scripture and not against what culture tells us in order for us if we are to stay true to our mission. In order to stay true, we must have a strong conviction as to what that mission is. Think about what that looks like for you right now.

Stay thirsty,

Big E