Passion Conference: Christine Caine identifies 4 signs of 'drifting away' from biblical truths
Warning that the cultural current is “always shifting,” international evangelist and author Christine Caine urged thousands gathered at the Passion 2021 Conference to anchor themselves in Christ as the new year kicks off.
In a message titled “Set Your Anchor” delivered at the close of 2020, Caine, founder of The A21 Campaign, cited Hebrews 6 — which she said was written during a time of “great turbulence” and persecution from culture — to highlight the importance of having “hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.”
“Jesus is this hope we have as an anchor for our soul, both firm and secure,” she said. “I can guarantee you this in 2021: your anchor will hold behind the veil, no matter what shifts and currents come.”
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“You need an anchor because if you’re not anchored, you’re going to drift,” Caine said, adding that in the coming year, Christians must not just drop anchor, but “set anchor.”
“All you have to do to drift is nothing,” she warned. “Be extra careful because it looks like the sea is calm, but the current is always shifting underneath.”
Caine identified four signs of drifting, adding: “We want to stay on course with our God-given purpose. We want to stay on course with God-given destiny. We want to be who God's called us to be.”
The first sign, she said, is when a “blue check” — referring to the “verified” symbol on Instagram, Twitter, and other social media platforms — is more important than a “heart check.”
“Christianity is not about a font or filter,” she said. “We think all the issues of life flow out of our social media feed. No, it comes out of the heart. How about we stop yearning for the blue check and we start allowing the Holy Spirit to do a deep heart check from the inside out?”
The second sign that one is drifting is when “my will becomes more important than God’s will.”
“We build idols to our own will,” she said. “Maybe we know we're starting to drift away when our will becomes more important than the will of God. Maybe we know we're starting to drift when we care a lot more about everyone else's business than we do the Father's business.”
Caine urged listeners to stop being “spectators” who are “consumed with everyone else’s business,” adding: “We’ve become professional Christian commentators who fantasize about everyone else's business instead of the Father's business.”
“There's not a lack of harvest; there's just a lack of workers that will co-labor about the Father's business,” she contended.
Another sign of drifting is when we “choose to conform to the world and not be transformed by the Word of God,” Caine said, adding that many Christians have “sold out” to the philosophy that “come as you are” means “stay as you are.”
“The good news is we don't have to stay as we are,” the popular speaker stressed. “We are a brand new creation in Christ Jesus, we can be transformed from glory to glory. We can become who God created us to be in Jesus.”
Finally, Caine said we know we’re drifting when “our thoughts supersede God's thoughts.” She pointed out that the Bible says God’s thoughts are higher than our thoughts and His ways higher than our ways.
“Just because you don't understand it and just because you don't like it and just because you don't agree with it doesn't make it wrong,” she said. “God wants the best for us.”
“Passion 2021, as we step into a brand new year, we can be hope-filled, faith-filled, full of joy, full of peace,” she concluded. “Why? Not because we know what's going to happen in 2021, but we know who is already in 2021 and His name is Jesus, and Jesus is this hope we have as an anchor for our soul, both firm and secure.”
Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the annual Passion Conference, led by Louie Giglio, was held virtually this year. The annual event is geared toward young adults between the ages of 18–25 and aims to “glorify God by uniting students in worship, prayer and justice for spiritual awakening in this generation.”
Believing that “worship and justice are two sides of the same coin," Passion 2021 also raised over $100,000 to help with the rescue and care for survivors of cybersex trafficking across Southeast Asia.
