“It’s a curious thing but not uncommon for Christians to begin well and gradually get worse. “
Life in a Country of Death
This from the chapter “Life in a Country of Death” from Eugene Peterson’s Living the Resurrection:
It is uncommonly difficult to stay centered and absorbed in our primary life-affirming, life-witnessing work. We continue to perform the vast array of activities in work and conversation that I’ve listed, and more than that. But we are also under the continual threat of death, of becoming disconnected from life and people and God and just going through the biological motions—mouthing clichés and not participating in life itself.
This distraction and diversion is what makes for a crisis in Christian identity—a crisis current among us. Our basic connection to life is severed, and we begin borrowing our identities from therapists and entertainers, CEOs and politicians, pastors and teachers, men and women who appear to be on the frontlines and making a difference in the world……We lose our vitality. We become dull. We continue to go through these life-affirming, Christ-honoring motions, but our hearts are no longer in it.
The regression is rarely dramatic. It’s not sudden. We start out with life, life, life, and more life. God is primary and present in all we do. But then while we’re happily and innocently going about our work, our feet get tangled up in those cords of…”
I encourage you to read the whole chapter here