Then We Slow Down
You were running well. Who stopped you from obeying the truth? - Galatians 5:7
You ever notice how rarely we decide, “Today I’m going to stop pursuing God”? It usually doesn’t happen like that. We start on fire. We’re reading the Word, praying, serving, showing up, hungry to learn, hungry to grow, hungry to tell somebody about Jesus. Then life gets loud. Work gets busy. The phone keeps buzzing. We’re tired. We skip one morning and tell ourselves we’ll read tomorrow. We miss church because it’s been a long week. Prayer becomes something we squeeze in when there’s a problem. Tomorrow becomes next week, next week becomes “when things settle down,” and somehow the God we once chased becomes Someone we’re trying to fit into the leftovers.
That’s what makes Galatians 5:7 hit so hard. Paul doesn’t ask, “Did you ever run?” He says, “You were running well.” The issue wasn’t their start. Something interrupted their stride. And sometimes that something isn’t some massive sinful rebellion. Sometimes it’s simply neglect. We didn’t run away from Christ…we slowed down.
A Bible sitting unopened doesn’t mean we stopped believing it. We just stopped feeding from it. Missing prayer doesn’t mean we stopped loving God. But eventually a starving spirit will feel exactly like what it is…weak. Then we wonder why temptation feels stronger, why our patience is shorter, why worship doesn’t hit the same, why our faith feels distant, and why the world suddenly has a grip on things we thought we’d already overcome.
Maybe Christ didn’t move.
Maybe we slowed down.
And here’s the encouraging part…you can start running again. You don’t have to fake the fire you used to have. You don’t have to pretend everything is fine. Open the Bible again. Pray again. Show up again. Worship again. Serve again. Get quiet again. Take one step, then another. The same Jesus you were chasing when you were on fire is still there when you realize you’ve slowed to a crawl.
Don’t spend another month talking about how close to God you used to be.
Run.
Here’s the blunt truth: You don’t usually lose your fire all at once…you stop feeding it one day at a time. Feed it again.
Then We Slow Down
1. What did I consistently do when I was pursuing Christ harder that I’ve slowly stopped doing?
2. What can I start doing again today instead of waiting until “tomorrow”?
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