One of the things that happens to people as they get older is they fall more. I fall about once a week now, and it wasn’t that long ago that I never fell. It seems I sometimes fall over a shadow. So far, I haven’t seriously hurt myself, but I know one of these days it is going to hurt. Falling physically is a pain, but falling spiritually is much more serious and long-lasting. The saddest thing in life for me is to see someone who was living for the Lord fall away. It seems that it happens often, and it also appears that the number is growing and accelerating in these last days.

1 Timothy 4:1 “But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons.”

There are several reasons for the failure to run the race set before us with endurance, but I think the number one reason is loving the world and the things in it. It is so easy to do, and the drift away from God is so slow that most don’t notice it until it is too late to do anything about it.

2 Timothy 4:10 “for Demas, having loved this present world, has deserted me.”

1 John 2:15 “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”

I sometimes will say something to a person when I notice that a lukewarmness is setting in, but it rarely gets anyone’s attention; they just get defensive and irritated. So I pray for them like crazy, asking God to open their eyes so they can see where they are. If nothing seems to work I pray that God will bring a major trial into their life and wake them up.

I may be getting more unsteady on my feet, but I am running with endurance the spiritual race set before me. I am determined to finish the race well. The more I see others fall around me the more determined I become to pay attention to my own heart and the focus of my love.