Drifting is Dangerous

^ESV Hebrews 2:1 Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.

Spiritual drift is slow and takes time.   The spiritual drift is hard to recognize, diagnose and admit.  All of us know people that this is happened to.  There is no urgency, there is no passion, and there is no diligence to the duties of God is called as to.  No longer are we focused listening to or considering the truth of God's word.  No longer are we fixing our eyes on Jesus.  Gone are the days that we seek to have his mind above our own.

We want to convince ourselves that it is okay, that we are holding our own. What we begin to do is this:  We compare ourselves to others who are around us we forget the real comparison is above us.  However, if and when we were to take a long look at our lives we would be forced to admit it that the result of this drift has not been standing still, but slipping away.

Is that not the life lesson all of us need to learn? That there is no standing still.  A plateau is not a plateau at all, but rather it is a steady decline.  The life of this world is not as stagnant lake that remains full rather it is a river.  And it is constantly flowing downward to destruction. 

If you and I do not listen carefully to and make room for the words of God to abide in our lives we will never have any hope to daily fix our eyes on him.  If we choose to try to take it easy we will not stand still as we had first hoped.  Not at all, for we will slip backwards into decay and destruction.    The river is somewhat deceptive, is it not?    For at times, the rivers calm and  peaceful hardly moving at all, then just downstream, around the corner, there are violent and treacherous waters that will plunge us deep within its clutches.

Drifting is a deadly thing in the Christian life.  And left undiagnosed it will rob us of our hopes, dreams, aspirations and life itself.  There is an antidote according to Hebrews 2:1.

"Pay close attention to what you heard."  That is, consider what God is saying through his son Jesus Christ.  We must fix our eyes on what God is saying and doing through the Son of God, Jesus Christ.

When one is swimming we are taking strokes to produce forward progress.  The writer of Hebrews tells us in order to swim against the stream of sin and indifference we must pay close attention to what we have heard.  But every swimmer knows endurance is the key. 

I will make no apologies, only give you a stern warning:  We must not complain that God has given us a hard job.   Let us not lie to one another and say that this life should be easy.  But what we have before us in this Christian life is a solemn invitation to be satisfied in Jesus, and him alone. 

If you find yourselves drifting today, one of the signs that your born-again is that you feel convicted that something in your life is not as it once was, or could be.  Things are not as they should be, and  for this, there is a rising desire in your heart to turn your eyes on Jesus and consider Him and listen to Him in the days to come.   He may very well be calling you to His side, asking you to return to Him.

The question really becomes will you surrender?