One way Christians have wavered from their convictions is that they settle for a shallow faith. Some of us take the first step and make the faith our own, but then we make a mistake: we learn one or two things and stop there. We dabble in the truth but fail to pursue it passionately. The result is that our knowledge isn’t deep enough to support us when we face new challenges. We become like a football team that only knows one or two plays. Any sports fan knows that’s a bad strategy.
Some Cajuns don’t like Louisiana State University’s football coach because he calls the same play over and over. Eventually, the opposing team catches on, no matter how dumb they are. I can say that because I’m an LSU fan. We Cajuns have cheers like this:
Hot boudin, cold kush kush,
Come on, team. Push, push, push!
And then there’s this one:
Alligator, alligator, alligator, gar,
We ain’t as dumb as you think we is.
Some say it takes a Cajun two hours to watch 60 Minutes, so that’s how we cheer. But even a Cajun knows that you can’t run just one play. You can’t keep your game simple, running the same old routes just because that’s how you were coached growing up.
But that’s what some of us do. We seemingly devoted Christians, whose love grows cold and who walk away from the faith, often do so because our faith was shallow to begin with. We hang on to one or two truths, but when those beliefs no longer work for us, we give them up completely. In fact, many of us are not confident about why we believe in Jesus or even what we believe about Jesus. For example, when a Muslim friend questions the Bible’s teaching about Jesus and suggests that Jesus was a great prophet but not the Son of God, we don’t know how to respond. Too often, when someone presses us about our faith, we come up with our own ideas without consulting the Word of God. Another way to say this is that when we aren’t firm in our convictions, we tend to slip in with the culture around us.
We cannot change the truth. We cannot change God. He’s not going to shift around with our latest ideas. A lot of Christians, though, instead of becoming more like Christ, ask Christ to be more like them. You can hear it in their dialogue: “Well, God didn’t mean it that way,” they say. “He said that two thousand years ago. If He was speaking in our culture today, He would understand.” They mean to sound loving. But really they are compromising their convictions to make people more comfortable. This is not real love. This is evidence of shallow faith.
I have a friend who has a boat. (Everybody needs at least one friend with a boat!) He lets me take it out. I touch the buttons. It’s awesome. But in one nearby lake, there are some dangerously shallow areas. You have to pay close attention when you’re skiing there, because if you’re cruising along a high rate of speed and hit a shallow area, the situation can quickly become dangerous. The way to stay out of the shallow water is to keep your eyes on the depth finder.
What is our depth finder in our relationship with the Lord, spiritually speaking? It’s the Word of God. That’s how we know how we’re doing. When we are reading the Word, God will reveal to us when we are getting into shallow waters and our convictions are shifting. The Bible is our spiritual depth finder. Proverbs 5:1-2 says, “Turn your ear to my words of insight.” Look at the depth finder. “That you may maintain discretion.” Look at the depth finder. “And your lips may preserve knowledge,” the knowledge of this Word. Look at the depth finder.
We are always moving either closer to or further away from the Lord. When you forget about the depth finder, when you start getting into shallow waters and your convictions start shifting, your heart and your decisions start shifting as well. If you’re not paying attention, you may soon find yourself dabbling in things you would never have considered before. Look at the depth finder. Stay in the Word.
Pastor Rick Bezet joins James and Betty this Monday on LIFE TODAY. This is an excerpt from Real Love in an Angry World by Rick Bezet. Copyright ©2017 by Rick Bezet. Published by Baker Books, a division of Baker Publishing Group. Used by permission.
