… if you continue in the faith, grounded and settled, and are not removed from the hope of the gospel …

— Colossians 1:23

In his book To Light a Fire, Jack London describes a man walking through the freezing, frigid cold of Alaska, where the temperature had dropped down to 40 degrees below zero. The biting cold was searing his lungs and throat, freezing his breath and his hands and feet. He was utterly exhausted. He felt, at length, that if only he could sit down for a few minutes and regain his strength, perhaps he could go on and make it to his home.

Having sat down and leaned back against the snow, he began to feel the burning pain assuage, until he felt a warmth that surged through his body. He began to relax. He thought, “If I could just lean my head against the bank of snow and perhaps catch a few minutes sleep, then I would be refreshed and able to go on.” And so he closed his eyelids and soon slept the sleep of death.

So Satan would have us to be comfortable in our apostasy. The one thing he doesn’t want us to do is come back to God and rejoice in His presence and His love. Sometimes we need to be startled awake and realize that we have slidden back. We need to realize we are far from that comfortable relationship of joy and intimacy that once we knew—that comfort that only Christ can give—and be drawn back to Him.

Question to ponder:
How can you watch your walk so that you draw closer to the Lord and not away from Him?