SWEET TEA

This post is taken from my book, The Perfect Savior, a forty-day Easter devotional published by Our Daily Bread. Order from Amazon or BarneyCargile.com

My wife once owned a pet chicken. Yes, a pet chicken. Actually a rooster. She named him “Sweet Tea,” because in his chick-hood, he sat on her lap atop a towel and drank from her iced tea glass. (I’m glad he wasn’t a vulture.) I once considered switching to the Food Channel to give him a glimpse of his future, but quickly stopped myself.

One day Linda discovered some of his feathers on our road and couldn’t locate Sweet Tea. She was afraid he’d been promoted to poultry paradise. But he turned up alive and well. He’d simply wandered off.

Unlike Sweet Tea, on the night before Jesus died, his followers didn’t wander off. They abandoned him. When a mob came, “everyone deserted him and fled” (Mark 14:50).

In his greatest hour of need, Jesus stood alone, surrounded by enemies. Isaiah 53:3 prophesied, “He was despised and abandoned by men.” His followers may not have despised him, but they certainly abandoned him.

Isaiah adds this, “We all, like sheep [or chickens] have gone astray” (53:6). Wandering astray probably poses a greater danger than abandoning Jesus, because we don’t realize it’s happening. We probably won’t jump out of be tomorrow and say, “I think I’ll abandon Jesus today.” But slowly slipping away from our passion for Jesus? We don’t even realize when we’ve wandered into the Land of Spiritual Lethargy.  

The writer of Hebrews warns, “Pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away” (2:1). Like a boat adrift on the sea, we can end up far from where we intended.

What’s the solution? Pursue the Lord, press into Jesus, live perpetually in his presence. It’s not easy in a world of distractions. But it’s critical for our spiritual survival. Fleeing from Jesus or merely meandering off—both can be deadly.

Ponder:

• What spiritual practices might help prevent you from unintentionally wandering away from Jesus?

• What changes might you need to make to remain more loosely connected to the Lord throughout the day?

Pursue: For a deeper dive, study Hebrews 2:1-4.

Lord, remind me that I am “prone to wander” as the hymn says. Draw me closer to your heart each and every day.

“THE PERFECT SAVIOR” IS AVAILABLE ON BARNEYCARGILE.COM OR ON AMAZON. TO ORDER ON AMAZON, CLICK HERE: