Swimming Against the Current?

One of the great landmarks of my childhood was the river that flowed just a few hundred feet from the home in which I grew up.

We could easily be on the banks of that major river less than thirty seconds after walking out our back door. It was in that river that I learned what it feels like to swim against the current. Swimming upstream can be tough going and takes real effort, while floating downstream with the current takes no effort whatsoever.

Even dead animals floated downstream.

But you had to be alive and kicking to make any progress in the other direction. The truth is that people who turn away from God are actually swimming against the current. In one sense, they are going with the flow and being carried downstream by sin, neglect, or carelessness. While it might seem that drifting with the current that surrounds you is easygoing, anyone who swims with the current of the world is swimming against the current of the Holy Spirit. Speaking of the way He dealt with His own people, God said in Hosea 11:4, “I drew them with gentle cords, with bands of love.” Jesus said the Holy Spirit convicts the world. Jeremiah 31:3 says, “The LORD has appeared of old to me, saying: ‘Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.’ ” God’s Spirit convicts and draws people to Himself.

The lack of peace many people experience comes as a direct result of constantly resisting God’s draw. In order to be lost, a person has to resist the love of God, the pleading of the Holy Spirit, and the saving grace of Jesus.

Don’t resist His drawing today. A heart that is surrendered to Jesus soon realizes it is hard work resisting the invitation of heaven.

You don’t have to swim against the current of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus wants to carry you along with Him and hold you close to His heart.