Default Mode

Re-reading Crazy Love by Francis Chan and want to post an excerpt that I find strikingly 'wow':

If life is a river, then pursuing Christ requires swimming upstream. When we stop swimming, or actively following Him, we automatically begin to be swept downstream.

Or, to use another metaphor more familiar to city people, we are on a never-ending downward escalator. In order to grow, we have to turn around and sprint up the escalator, putting up with perturbed looks from everyone else who is gradually moving downward. (p. 95)


I know everyone has that thing. That bad habit they fall back on, or that job they know is always available to them if nothing else comes up. It's different for everybody, and that's what makes this so interesting; everyone has 'that thing' that they would naturally go back to.

Often after spending what feels like a seemingly great amount of quality time with God, I feel good and then take a break from seeking His face. It's as if I have a spiritual quota, and when I meet it then I'm good for the next little while.

Well when I read that paragaph I think to myself that there is no spiritual 'pause'. Rather, if I'm not actively pursuing and engaging with Christ, then I'm slowly going to be pursuing worldly things. It's so easy for me to find satisfaction in the things around me, and that's because I'm realizing this is what my 'spiritual default mode' is set to!

My deeper desire is to be in commune with the Holy Spirit, and that is why I must daily die to myself and daily take up my cross. It means I don't wake up in the morning thinking how can I make my life better but instead how can I make Christ glorified. Some days it's the most difficult thing to do, but I always remember it's always worth it.