It is a slippery slope – this falling away. We are following closely until, suddenly, we are not. Our devotion becomes less pure and our hearts begin to beat divided. It is just as Paul warned.

But I fear that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your minds may be seduced from a complete and pure devotion to Christ. – 2 Corinthians 11:3

How does it happen that one could go from fiery and devoted to luke-warm and wandering? It is not as difficult as you may think. Consider this episode that takes place in the book of Exodus.

Moses is told that he, Aaron and several others (including 70 elders of Israel)  should go near the mountain of the Lord. They are to bow and worship at a distance. Moses will then go on alone to speak with the Lord. Let’s focus for a moment, however, on the other folks.

Then Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and 70 of Israel’s elders, and they saw the God of Israel. Beneath His feet was something like a pavement made of sapphire stone, as clear as the sky itself. God did not harm the Israelite nobles; they saw Him, and they ate and drank. – Exodus 24:9-11

These men saw God. Let that sink in for a moment. They saw Him with their eyes, they bowed in worship, they ate and drank and they lived to tell about it. Wow. You would think they would never stray for a second after something like that.

We have all felt that way, right? We have seen God do the miraculous. We have been in a place of need and watched Him provide in crazy ways. We have seen Him make a way where there seemed to be no way. We have been blessed to witness our own red seas part and our own prodigals come home. In those moments, we bow and we worship because we know we have seen Him. Wow. You would think we would never stray for a second after something like that.

Ponder that, my friends, and I’ll be back next week with part II…