I love the way this is worded....

This is written by Larry McCall and reflects so clearly the way we can drift from Christ's presence and slip into apathy and disbelief.

Come winter, the ice forms almost imperceptibly on the lake near our home. After the first few cold nights, a bit of skim ice may be noticed by the observant passerby. Gradually, ever so gradually, the ice thickens as the cold takes its grip on our northern Indiana community. By the dead of winter, fishermen labor at drilling through two feet of hard ice to get through to the warmer waters below.

Sin is like that. A heart that once seemed warm cools so gradually that only the especially perceptive friend or pastor notices skim ice forming on the soul of the church member.

The person who once evidenced a warm, experiential trust in Christ gradually, ever so gradually, cools toward the matters of eternity. The appetite to read God's Word lessens, prayer becomes sporadic, worship becomes boring, and all kinds of excuses are found not to be with Christian friends.

The ice thickens. The heart gets colder and colder. The voice of Christ no longer has its former effect. Instead, the call of the world draws. The beauty of Christ no longer entices. The world begins to look more appealing. One sin leads to the next. the second becomes easier than the first. Then, another and another. Eventually, the church realizes that one of her own has been overtaken by "an evil, unbelieving heart," leading a church member to "fall away from the living God" (Hebrews 3:12).

How does this happen? How does a person who has evidenced apparent faith in Christ and faithfulness to Him "fall away from the living God"?


More important, what can be done to guard against apostasy in the church? What should be done?

See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ if we hold till the end the
confidence we had at first. As has just been said:Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts...
(Hebrews 3:12-15)

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Note: I need to think about this some more. How do we stop it? Is a key found in the words "encourage each other daily"? I don't want to let my heart harden....

This verse indicates that we ourselves harden our hearts.....and that as we pursue the deceitfulness of sin our hearts harden. I need to think more about this.

Sometimes I feel sort of brittle and cold -- not soft and giving like I do when living closely in the presence of God -- I sometimes feel myself drifting -- like the hymn--"Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I Love. Take my heart, oh, take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above....Let thy grace, Lord, like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to thee." That's what I want -- and I am sure that's what He wants!