Athens in ruins.
Such words evoke centuries old images of one of the great cities reduced to rubble.
The images of Athens in ruins you’ll see below are startling. Not because their thousands of years old, but demonstrate what can happen in ten short years since the 2004 Summer Olympics.
If this can happen this quickly to a city, I began to wonder how much faster this happens in our own hearts.
Here are 4 signs you may be suffering from spiritual decay:
1. God has become a cosmic vending machine.
You never meant for it to happen but somehow, somewhere along the way, your relationship with God became more transactional. You put in. You get out. You do. You receive. While you’re performing and accomplishing, the gifts of grace, joy, and peace fall to the wayside.
2. You’ve let go of spiritual disciplines.
Daily disciplines like reading the Bible, prayer, solitude, and reflection have been edged out of your life by busyness, distraction, and daily demands. A missed day now and then won’t lead to a collapse, but over time a slow decay of the heart sets in.
3. Your fervor for Jesus runs cool.
You may be spinning wheels around the church, spiritual activities, and service, but when you whisper the name Jesus aloud you realize how long it’s been since you’ve carved out time simply to be with Him. To allow the Holy Spirit to stoke the embers of your faith. To recapture wonder of knowing Him.
4. You’d rather be right than righteous.
You’re so convinced that being right—about theology, church strategy, leadership techniques, or behavior modification—that you’d rather win an argument than see a life change, a heart soften with repentance, a person drawn closer to Jesus through the tender way they were loved.
Decay happens faster than we realize. Not just in Athens, but in our own hearts.
May we be a people who follow Jesus in such a way that we breathe life, hope, and longevity.
What strikes you the most about the images of Athens now? How can you combat spiritual decay in your own life?
