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The Peril of the Drifting Soul: Reclaiming the Primacy of Holy Scripture in an Age of Neglect · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome to Reformed Thinking. We are really glad you were
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tuning in with us today. Today we are taking a deep dive
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into two incredibly compelling pieces of source material.
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We are looking at an essay titled Sins of Omission, Neglect
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of God's Word, and a sermon manuscript titled The Peril of
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the Drifting Soul. Yes, and it is a privilege to
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have you joining us for this conversation because while we
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are looking at a critical theological and pastoral issue
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that affects every single Christian, we are examining the
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sin of neglecting God's Word. And as we look at the material
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today, a very striking irony emerges right away.
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Right. The irony is impossible to miss.
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We live in an age characterized by an unprecedented abundance of
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Bibles. I mean, think about your own
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life for a second. You probably have multiple
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physical copies in your home right now.
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Maybe a study Bible on the desk, a leather bound copy on the
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shelf, perhaps a smaller one sitting in the car.
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Oh, absolutely. And along with that physical
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abundance, you have instant access to dozens translations
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plus the original Greek and Hebrew right on the phone in
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your pocket. Yet our sources point out a
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staggering reality here. Despite this overflowing feast,
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we are suffering from a self-imposed famine of hearing
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God's voice. And the authors put a very
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specific number on this paradox. Citing the State of the Bible
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2024 report, the data reveals the daily Bible engagement has
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plummeted to just 10%. That means the vast majority of
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professing believers are walking through life without daily
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nourishment from the Scriptures. 10% It really is a shocking
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statistic, but I think we need to be very clear with you right
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out of the gate. Our goal today is not to inflict
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a heavy burden of guilt upon you if we're having a busy schedule
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or working long hours or just trying to keep your head above
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water this week. Precisely.
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We are not here to pile on shame.
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Instead, we are looking at this data to diagnose a serious
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spiritual condition. Over the course of this
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conversation we will examine the theology of omissions, the very
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subtle danger of what the Source is called drifting, and then the
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specific Christ centered remedy for a wandering heart.
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That paradox of starvation in the middle of a banquet is
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really the perfect place to begin, because it forces us to
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reconsider how we categorize our daily habits and our spiritual
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health. When we think about sin, the
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human mind naturally gravitates toward visible, loud violations
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of God's law. We tend to think of the sins of
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Commission, you know. We think of lying, stealing,
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greed, anger, or blatant immorality.
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Because of that, we often measure our holiness by the
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visible transgressions we have managed to avoid today.
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Right, but the source material brings us immediately to the
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book of James chapter 4, verse 17.
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That verse states So whoever knows the right thing to do and
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fails to do it, for him it is sin.
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That single voice completely dismantles the idea that we are
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innocent simply because our hands are not actively
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committing a crime. Withholding what God requires is
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disobedience. Failing to do the right thing is
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sin. The authors argue that the law
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of God requires positive obedience, positive love, and
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positive attention to the means He has appointed for our growth.
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Yes. Omission is not a morally
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neutral state. It is disobedience by neglect.
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And because it does not create an immediate, scandalous public
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spectacle, omission has become a very respectable sin in the
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modern church. It is the kind of sin that hides
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perfectly behind an outward religious veneer.
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It really does. You can attend Sunday services,
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sing to hymns loudly, put money in the offering plate, and
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maintain a pristine public reputation, all while your soul
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is starving in secret. And why?
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Because you have withheld the positive attention that God's
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Word demands. That concept of a respectable
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sin is highly convicting. It is so easy to fall into the
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trap of thinking, well, I didn't rob a bank today, I was nice to
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my neighbor, so my spiritual life is secure.
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But that kind of passive Christianity leads us directly
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into the first major warning presented in the texts.
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And that warning comes from the book of Hebrews, specifically
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chapter 2, verses one through 3. The writer of Hebrews issues a
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severe warning against drifting away.
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The original Greek term used there is purisman.
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It is a fascinating word, and it appears only this one time in
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the entire New Testament. It is a brilliant linguistic
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detail. When we look at extra biblical
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literature from the Greco Roman world, we find that this is a
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nautical term. It describes a ship that is
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silently and passively slipping past its safe harbor.
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I like to think of it like being at the beach on summer vacation.
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You grab an inner tube, you wade into the water, and you close
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your eyes to relax in the sun. You weren't swimming away from
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your family. You aren't actively kicking your
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feet. But 20 minutes later, you open
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your eyes and realize you are a mile down the shoreline.
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That is a great analogy. The current did all the work,
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and the tragedy of the image in Hebrews is that the ship does
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not miss the harbor because the crew mutinied or because the
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captain intentionally steered the vessel into the jagged
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rocks. The ship misses the harbor
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simply because the sailor neglected the oars.
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Which paints a very vivid picture for you and me regarding
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how spiritual ruin actually occurs.
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It rarely happens through sudden violent rebellion.
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People rarely wake up one Tuesday morning and decide to
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complete completely abandoned the Christian faith out of
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nowhere. It happens through passive
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neglect. You stop rowing, You leave the
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Bible on the shelf. The current of the world, the
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flesh and the devil is always pulling.
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And if you are not actively anchoring yourself in the text,
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you are already drifting. There is no standing still.
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To combat this passive drifting, the text in Hebrews commands us
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to pay attention to what we have heard.
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The Greek word used there is precision.
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The sources note that this verb is a present active infinitive.
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And that grammatical structure is key.
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It indicates relentless, continuous vigilance.
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You cannot pay attention once on a Sunday morning and assume you
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are safe for the rest of the week.
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It requires a constant, active engagement against the current
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of the world. If you drop the ORS, you drift.
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This ties directly into the concept of the self-imposed
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famine we mentioned earlier. The authors connect the warning
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in Hebrews to the prophetic witness of Amos, chapter 8,
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verses 11 and 12. Yes, Amos warned ancient Israel
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of a coming judgement where there would be a famine in the
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land. Not a famine of bread, nor a
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thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord.
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People would wander from sea to sea seeking the word of the
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Lord, but they would not. Find it for ancient Israel that
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famine was a severe divine judgement sent upon them for
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their idolatry. But the tragedy of our current
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era is that the famine we face is entirely self-imposed.
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We live in the New Covenant era. The shadows of the Old Testament
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have given way to the substance of Christ.
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The final climactic revelation of God has been given, printed,
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translated, and placed directly into our hands.
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To start in an era of such absolute abundance is a
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staggering indictment of our spiritual apathy.
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OK, but let me push back on this famine idea for a second, just
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to play the devil's advocate for the sake of our listener.
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If someone is tuning in right now and thinking, look, I listen
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to Christian radio on my commute.
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I pray when I'm feeling stressed.
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I watch good Christian content online.
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Is it really a famine just because I didn't sit down and
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read the physical book of Leviticus or Romans today?
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That is a very fair question to ask, and it forces us to define
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the theological nature of the Bible.
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If the Bible is just a collection of helpful moral
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advice or an ancient religious anthology, then leaving it on
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the night stand is unfortunate, but it certainly isn't a crisis.
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However, the sources absolutely insist on a high doctrine of
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Scripture. They anchor this entire
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discussion in Second Timothy chapter 3, verses 16 and 17,
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which declares that all Scripture is breathed out by
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God. The authors explain the doctrine
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of plenary inspiration. Which means the entire text in
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all its parts originates from the mouth of God.
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Because it is God breathed, the Bible carries divine authority,
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absolute truthfulness, and complete sufficiency for faith
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and practice. The text is not up for
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negotiation. As the source material bluntly
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states, the Bible judges man. Man does not judge the Bible.
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When you choose to ignore the scriptures, you are not skipping
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a book club assignment, you are ignoring the supreme authority
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of the universe. That high view of Scripture is
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precisely what separates true biblical Christianity from
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casual cultural religion. It is beautifully summarized in
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the shared theological framework of our Reformed tradition.
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The authors point directly to chapter one of the Westminster
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Confession of Faith. Which establishes the Bible as
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the infallible rule for all saving knowledge, faith and
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obedience. Infallible means it is incapable
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of making a mistake or leading you astray.
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It is the perfect sufficient standard.
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Knowing this guards US against several modern errors that the
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sources identify. The authors hold to a strict
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cessationist viewpoint. They argue that the Apostolic
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signs and miraculous revelatory gifts like prophecy or speaking
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in tongues have ceased with the closing of the Canon.
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God speaks exclusively through His written word today,
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therefore, the authors strongly critique the mysticism of our
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modern age. You see this everywhere today,
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the constant search for novel revelations, people waiting for
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a private whisper from heaven, or looking for signs in their
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daily circumstances outside the bounds of the Bible.
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If you want to hear God speak, you must open the book.
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Read it out loud if you want to hear His voice audibly.
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The authors also critique the pragmatism that is swept through
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many modern churches where the faithful verse by verse
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preaching of the Word is replaced by entertainment, smoke
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machines and seeker sensitive metrics.
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Both mysticism and pragmatism failed to honor the closed Canon
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and the complete sufficiency of the revelation we already
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possess. If we believe the Westminster
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Confession, we believe we have everything we need for life and
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godliness right there on the printed page.
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I love how you phrased that earlier.
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If you want to hear God speak audibly, read your Bible out
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loud. That brings us to the very heart
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of the Bible's message, because if we are going to open the
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book, we need to know what we are looking for.
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Jesus himself makes this brilliantly clear in John
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chapter 5 verse 39. He is speaking to the religious
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leaders of his day, men who had the Old Testament memorized.
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And he rebukes them, saying you search the scriptures because
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you think that in them you have eternal life.
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And it is they that bear witness about me.
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That is a massive paradigm shift.
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Searching the Scriptures is entirely empty if that search
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does not lead you to the Son of God.
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The Bible is not an end in itself, it is the ordained means
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by which God reveals Jesus Christ.
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We see this confirmed by the risen Christ in Luke chapter 24
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on the Road to Emmaus. Picture that scene for a moment.
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2 disciples are walking away from Jerusalem, downcast,
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confused about the crucifixion. Jesus joins them, but their eyes
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are kept from recognizing Him. And what does he do?
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He doesn't perform a miracle to prove who he is, the text says.
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He takes them through the lot of Moses, the prophets, and the
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Psalms, and he shows them. How all of it converges is on
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him. He is the substance of the
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Canon. When you read the Old Testament,
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you are not reading disconnected moral fables or rules for
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ancient Aquarian societies. You are looking at shadows that
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point to a greater reality. The sacrifices point to Jesus as
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the true Passover lamb. The kingships point to Jesus as
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the eternal King of kings. Moses delivering the people from
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Egypt points to Jesus the greater Moses delivering his
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people from the bondage of sin and death.
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The entire grand architecture of redemption centers entirely on
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Christ. Seeing that Christological
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center completely changes how we view our neglect of the text.
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It means that leaving your Bible closed is not just a failure of
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academic discipline, it is ignoring a person.
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The source material references Hebrews chapter 1, verses 1 and
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2. Which declares that long ago, at
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many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the
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prophets, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son.
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When the text is faithfully read, the believer is actually
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hearing the present voice of the Risen Shepherd.
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It is an intensely relational dynamic.
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I want you to consider that for a moment.
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Closing the Bible means stepping away from the table where the
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Great Shepherd feeds his flock. It is a relational offense
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against the One who bought you. You are not avoiding A textbook
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filled with ancient historical facts.
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You are avoiding communion with your Savior.
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In Reformed theology, we understand that Christ exercises
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His prophetic office through the reading and preaching of the
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written Word. When you realize that, you
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realize that a closed Bible is a closed door to fellowship with
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the One who loved you and gave Himself for you.
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You are essentially telling the Creator of the universe that you
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are too busy to listen to what He has to say to you today.
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That is a weighty realization. If the stakes are that high, and
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if communion with Christ is what we are missing, we really need
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to put on our diagnostic hats. We have to diagnose the disease.
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What are the root causes of this neglect?
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Why do we do this? The sources suggest that a
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closed Bible is often a symptom of a colder inward condition.
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It points to a disordered love. As human beings, we always make
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time for the things we truly love.
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Nobody forgets to eat their favorite meal.
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Nobody forgets to catch their paycheck.
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The authors explain that neglect reveals an active preference for
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lesser things. When our love for God wanes, our
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appetite for his truth fades right along with it.
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It is rarely a sudden rejection of the Christian faith.
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It is a gradual cooling of the affections.
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We fill our days with other voices, other concerns, and
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other entertainments, and before we know it, the desire to sit
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quietly and hear from God has completely evaporated.
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The sources are very specific about the thorns of the modern
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age that choke out this desire. In the parable of the sower,
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Jesus talks about the seed falling among thorns, which
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represent the cares of the world that choke the word.
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Today we have an endless capacity for worldly
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distractions. The author cite several specific
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examples of the cultural noise that distracts modern people.
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These specifically mentioned the binging of secular
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entertainment, debates over evolution theory, the influx of
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critical race theory, and the endless stream of digital
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trivialities. To be clear to our listener, we
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are simply reporting the examples the authors provided to
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illustrate their point about cultural noise without taking a
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stance on those specific cultural or political debates.
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The core argument the authors are making is that the modern
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mind gets completely filled to the brim with noise, leaving the
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soul starved. Think about how easy it is to
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spend 3 hours researching the background lore of a fictional
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television universe or endlessly scrolling through short videos
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on your phone, yet we claim we do not have 15 minutes to read a
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chapter of the Gospel of John. We choose immediacy over
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meditation. We choose cheap amusement over
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Holy Communion. We let the urgent demands of our
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digital devices, the constant notifications and the outrage
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cycle of the news displace the absolute necessity of our daily
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spiritual bread. And beyond the noise of the
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culture and the pull of our phones, there are more insidious
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internal reasons why believers avoid the text.
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We have to talk about pride, hidden sin and formalism.
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Pride is incredibly deceptive. Pride whispers to you that
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yesterday's bread is sufficient for today.
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It tells you that because you know a little theology, or
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because you have been a Christian for a decade and you
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know all the major Bible stories, you do not desperately
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need to hear from God this morning.
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You think you have graduated beyond the basic need for daily
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nourishment. Then there is hidden sin, which
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is a massive barrier. The Bible is a bright, piercing
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light. When we are cherishing secret
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sin in our hearts, we naturally avoid the light that would
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expose our lust, our greed, our anger, or our bitterness.
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We keep the Bible closed as a form of self protection because
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we do not want the Holy Spirit to put His finger on that area
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of our life. We are refusing to surrender.
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And finally, the authors address formal religion.
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This is the danger of maintaining an outward Christian
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identity, attending a Reformed Church, knowing all the correct
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theological vocabulary, participating in the liturgy,
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while entirely lacking true inward desperate dependence on
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the text. You have the shell of religion,
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but none of the life. You look like a healthy tree on
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the outside, but the core is completely hollow.
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The cost of that starvation is severe.
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The immediate effect of neglecting the text is weakness
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and vulnerability, the authors state a chilling reality.
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A neglected Bible is the silent companion of strengthened flesh.
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Let that sink in. Without daily bread, your faith
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grows feeble and temptation gains ground.
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The apostle Paul tells us to take up the sword of the Spirit,
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which is the word of God. If you do not have your sword
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drawn, you are highly vulnerable to the attacks of the enemy.
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The. Conscience loses its sharpness.
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Sins that used to bother you. Sins that used to drive you to
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repentance suddenly seem justifiable.
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You start making excuses for your temper or your gossiping.
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Furthermore, the sources warn of a devastating loss of
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discernment. Without the text setting the
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standard, believers lose the ability to distinguish truth
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from error. They begin judging spiritual
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matters by personality rather than principle.
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This is incredibly dangerous for the church as a whole.
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A congregation untethered from the rigorous daily study of the
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Word will easily be LED astray by a charismatic speaker,
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emotional sentiment, or seeker sensitive programs rather than
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standing firm on biblical truth. When the sheep do not recognize
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the voice of the true shepherd, they will follow anyone who
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speaks confidently. That loss of discernment leads
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directly to moral instability and joylessness in the life of
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the individual believer. When you are not anchored in the
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Word, the line between obedience and disobedience blurs.
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You start making small compromises that accumulate over
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time. Your convictions fade into
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preferences. And perhaps most tragically,
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stepping away from God's promises leads to a dry,
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restless and joyless soul. You lose the comfort that the
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Scriptures provide to weary Saints.
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You might find yourself wondering why God feels so
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distant, why your prayer life feels like hitting a brass
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ceiling, or why you have no peace during trials.
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The reality is that you have simply walked away from the
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place where His voice is most clearly heard.
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Listening to all of this is a heavy reality for the conscience
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to bear. If you are sitting there feeling
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the weight of this neglect, The sources are applying what
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Reformed theologians call the first use of the law.
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The law acts as a mirror. It exposes our idolatrous
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hearts. It shows us how dirty our faces
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are. It shows us how quickly we
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prefer worldly, broken cisterns that can hold no water to the
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living waters of God's Word. It crushes our pride, dismantles
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our excuses about being too busy, and shows us our guilt
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before a holy God. But the beautiful truth of
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Reformed theology is that the mirror of the law is never the
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end of the story. Once the disease is diagnosed
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and our guilt is exposed, the sources pivot to the magnificent
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good news of the gospel announcement.
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The authors point us straight away from our own failures and
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direct our gaze to the perfect obedience of Jesus Christ.
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Where we have drifted, Christ never drifted.
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Where we have dropped the oars, Christ pulled relentlessly.
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He was perfectly attentive to the Father.
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He lived a life of flawless word saturated obedience on our
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behalf. When he was tempted in the
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wilderness, he fought back by quoting Deuteronomy.
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His mind was entirely governed by the Scriptures, and on the
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cross Jesus bore the just retribution for our sins of
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neglect. His blood cleanses our apathy.
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His sacrifice covers our spiritual laziness, our
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disordered loves, and the thousands of hours we have
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wasted on trivialities. While ignoring his voice, He
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took the punishment for our drifting.
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When we truly grasp this, our motive for returning to the text
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completely changes. This brings us to what
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theologians call the third use of the law, or the Euse's
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didacticus. Let me break that Latin phrase
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down for you. If the first use is a mirror
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showing us our sin, the third use is like a flashlight.
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We do not return to reading the Bible to earn our salvation, to
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check a religious box, or to pay God back for His grace.
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That is legalism and it will crush you.
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We also do not claim that because we are saved by grace
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and forgiven for our neglect, we do not need to read the Bible at
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all. That is antinomianism, which is
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a rejection of God's holy standard.
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That distinction between legalism and antinomianism is so
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helpful. The correct path avoiding both
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of those ditches is sanctification by the truth.
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Because we have been justified freely by grace, the Holy Spirit
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comes to dwell within us, and He actually changes our desires.
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He creates a supernatural hunger for the text that wasn't there
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before. We return to the Scriptures out
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of grateful obedience to the One who saved us.
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We read because we want to hear the voice of our groom.
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We want to know what pleases the God who rescued us.
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So for the listener who is feeling convicted but also
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encouraged by the gospel, how do we take concrete steps to fix
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this? How do we reorder our lives
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starting today? The author stressed that
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practical renewal always begins with honest, specific
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repentance. We must confess our neglect to
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God as sin. We cannot excuse it as busyness.
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We cannot blame our work schedules or our children.
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We simply say, Lord, I have neglected your voice, please
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forgive me. Then we must restore priority to
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the Word. We have to guard our time.
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The sources also advocate for the holy art of biblical
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meditation. This means we stop skimming the
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text just to complete a daily reading plan.
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We learn to linger over a passage.
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Think of it like a cow chewing the cud, extracting every ounce
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of nutrient from the grass. We digest the truth until it
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moves from our eyes into our minds and down into our
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affections, where it convicts the conscience and directs the
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hands. That private individual renewal
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is absolutely necessary, but it must also be connected to the
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public life of the Church through the ordinary means of
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grace. God does not just feed us
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individually in our living rooms.
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He feeds His people corporately. The author's highlight the
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absolute necessity of faithful expositional preaching and the
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reverence of the Lord's Day gathering with the Saints to
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hear the word proclaimed is not optional.
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They also make a specific call for family worship.
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This is an area that has been largely lost in modern times.
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The sources urge fathers and heads of households to take up
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the oars and lead their families into the text daily.
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It does not have to be an hour long theological seminar.
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It can simply be reading a brief passage after dinner, asking a
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question and praying together. But that daily rhythm
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establishes the Word as the central authority in the home.
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Furthermore, the audible word preached in red is then
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confirmed by the visible word of the sacraments.
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The sources tie the preached text directly to the Lord's
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Supper and believers baptism. When you commune at the table,
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you are receiving a visible, tangible confirmation of the
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very promises you just heard in the text.
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The physical elements of bread and wine assure your physical
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senses of the spiritual realities declared in the Bible.
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Christ's body broken for you, His blood shed for you.
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The Sacrament seal the promises of the Word to our hearts.
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As we bring this discussion to a close, the authors leave us with
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a warning marked by absolute eschatological urgency.
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Writing from a pro tribulationist, premillennialist
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perspective, they warn that the time is short.
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The bridegroom is at the door. History is moving toward a
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specific, ordained conclusion. The current of the world is
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incredibly strong, and we cannot afford to be found drifting
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asleep on our inner tubes when the trumpet sounds.
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We must be vigilant, with our minds alert and our hearts
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anchored firmly in the truth of the Gospel.
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I'm going to leave you with one final consideration to Mull over
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today as you go about your week. If the voice of the Creator of
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the Universe is readily available on the shelf right
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next to you, what is the true cost of leaving the room in
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silence? Think about what divine comfort
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for your current anxiety, what life altering conviction for a
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sin you are wrestling with, or what sweet assurance of God's
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grace is waiting for you in the very next chapter.
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You open. Do not let the self-imposed
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famine continue for another day. Open the book and listen to your
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Shepherd. Thank you for joining us for
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this deep dive on Reformed thinking.
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May you find great joy in returning to the Feast of
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Christ's voice.