The Slow Fade

Last night I was hanging out with a group of buddies at Re:Church210. Matt spoke about consistency and the importance of being consistent with people and with God. This conversation really made me think about how people act.

We don't set out to leave God (why do I picture some bitter old man shaking his fist at the heavens screaming?!). Most cases it's not a quick response to something, instead it's a slow fade. Sometimes it's so slow that you might not realize what was going on. It's like the old saying, "you can walk a thousand footsteps away from God but if you turn around, He will be there." I'm believing that people don't realize they are at step 951 out of a 1000. In fact I'm willing to bet that they don't know they are on step 3,4,5 or even 6. Instead they continue the path they are on and blindly walk it...until something tragic happens. Then they get the wake up call. Casting Crown's "Slow Fade" video brings this to light:

When we are walking consistently with God it effects people. They see it. They sense it. When we aren't walking with God, it also effects people in the opposite way. However you live your life you are changing your world positively or negatively. This includes spiritually, emotionally, and physically. 

I love plants. Yep, I'm a country boy at heart and I spent most of my days on a small farm in eastern NC. I remember playing with the vines that would grow on the side of one of the tobacco barns. By the middle of summer they would be so interwoven and tangled that you couldn't pull them off the side of the barn. My grandaddy taught me to cut the branches from the main vine because those branches would lose it's life blood. I would come back a week later and the branches weren't as green, thick, or tangled. Another week later they were brown and brittle. With one tug of an arm I would pull down 20ft of vines from the side of the barn. A scrawny kid taking down 20ft of vine made me fill somewhat like Hulk Hogan in mind...but i probably shouldn't have told you that part!

Jesus speaks about this in John 15:5-6a, "I am the vine, you are the branches. if you remain in me and I with you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers...."

So are you consistent in your relationship with God? Are you a part of the vine or are you doing a slow fade withering away? For a plant, there is no going back. Once that vine is withered, it's gone. But for a soul...there is always healing and redemption! Ask God for help. Seek good council. God has this spiritual super glue that will hold and mend anything. Trust me, I speak from experience! Check out the rest of the story in John 15 today.