Going Along

Ephesians 4:17-21 (MSG)
¹⁷ And so I insist—and God backs me up on this—that there be no going along with the crowd, the empty-headed, mindless crowd.
¹⁸ They've refused for so long to deal with God that they've lost touch not only with God but with reality itself.
¹⁹ They can't think straight anymore. Feeling no pain, they let themselves go in sexual obsession, addicted to every sort of perversion.
²⁰ But that's no life for you. You learned Christ!
²¹ My assumption is that you have paid careful attention to him, been well instructed in the truth precisely as we have it in Jesus.

Losing touch with God is losing touch with reality.  Feeling no pain means that the Spirit is absent.  The heart has been severed from God and there is no remorse.  The open wound of that separation leads to attempts for self healing.  As a result, freedom is lost in obsessions and addictions.  Because there is no pain, there is no awareness of bondage.  We don’t feel the chaffing of the chains.  

Here we are reminded that we need to hold on the truth precisely as we have it in Jesus.  His Word is the Word of God.  Any variation or deviation usually leads away from God.  

We are to walk with God instead of going along with the crowd.  The crowd is prone to mill about and wander.  Walking with God keeps both our thinking and path straight.