Is It Slipping?

Slipping! That can be dangerous. Slipping on ice can cause serious injury. Slipping down stairs or a steep embankment, on a loose rug, a wet floor, or any other slick surface can produce serious injurious results. However, the worst slipping is that which is the consequence of sin. When someone uses the expression “Your halo is slipping” the reference is to sin or inappropriate action being displayed in the life. It needs to be PUSHED BACK UP!

Jeremiah, in view of the fallen state of God’s people, declared…
“THE CROWN HAS FALLEN FROM OUR HEAD; woe to us, FOR WE HAVE SINNED!”
( Lamentations 5:16 ESV)

Though Jeremiah was a faithful prophet of God, he did not elevate himself above the people as being sinless. (note also Lamentations 1:22) He was humbly aware of his own short comings. But as Jeremiah considered the position of beauty and majesty God’s people had once held among the nations (note Lamentations 2:15 & 4:1-2), he mourned over the sight of her fall. Instead of heeding God’s warnings, the nation had listened to false prophets ( Lamentations 2:14) and continued to slip from the position God had provided for Jerusalem and her people. How sad that the crown had not just slipped, but had fallen completely off, leaving the people to become subservient to the Babylonian empire.

We ought to keep in view the position God has granted us, lest we too slip from the glory God desires us to possess.

Peter declared…
“(9) But YOU ARE A CHOSEN RACE, A ROYAL PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR HIS OWN POSSESSION, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. (10) Once you were not a people, but NOW YOU ARE GOD’S PEOPLE; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” ( 1 Peter 2:9-10 ESV)

Is the crown slipping; the glorious position we have been granted in Christ? As citizens of His eternal kingdom, are we sincerely striving to live up to God’s expectations? Or are we becoming subservient to the powers of the world and the inclinations of the flesh? Just as mournful a sight as the loss of Jerusalem’s glory is that of the glory of each individual who, though created in the image of God, allows that image to slip. Let us continue to live mindful of the crowned life (note Psalm 8:3-5-8) God created us to possess. Whenever we sense that crown slipping, let us be sure to PUSH IT BACK UP. Such living will be to our Creator’s glory and our eternal benefit.

Have a great day LIVING THE ELEVATED LIFE IN CHRIST!
Carl

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