There's a place in the Smokey Mountain National Park where you can get on an inner tube and float down a stream at a leisurely pace. It has become so popular that there are several places where you can rent an inner tube. Drifting along a mountain stream certainly sounds inviting and relaxing. It is indeed good to take time to rest every now and then (Mark 6:31). But when it comes to following our Lord, we need to be careful that we do not drift away from Him.
Is it possible to drift away from God so as to be lost? It is according to the writer of Hebrews. Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away. For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him, God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will (Hebrews 2:1-4 NKJV)?
In the above passage, "drift away" is contrasted with "[giving] earnest heed to [what was heard], and paralleled with "neglect [of] so great a salvation." When my teacher in high school said, "Pay attention because this will be on the test," I was focused like a laser beam on what she said. The Lord Jesus said something very similar: He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him—the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day (John 12:48). If your response to the words of Jesus will determine if heaven or hell is your eternal destination, shouldn't you make every effort to do exactly what Jesus said?
Yet there are some who drift away from Jesus' words through "neglect." When we start to neglect the words of life, the Hebrews' writer asks, "how shall we escape?" Escape what? "A just reward." In other words, the sentence of hell. Neglect means to give little attention or respect to (Webster's). Your body begins to break down when you neglect it. Neglect of a house or car, or worse, the neglect of children will result in very negative outcomes. If we neglect the hidden person of the heart (1 Peter 3:4), we can also expect to lose it someday. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul (Matthew 16:26)?
Have you drifted away from the Lord? Some have drifted away and not realized it. Whether you know or don't know you have, the key is "to give the more earnest heed to" the word of God. Get back to not only reading it daily, but studying it too. For example, study why, when, and how we are to partake of the Lord's Supper. That is certainly important because an apostle wrote to some who were not treating it as they should, and said they were guilty of the body and blood of the Lord (1 Corinthians 11:27). To be guilty of such would be dreadful, but is certainly possible for the drifter. Drifting along a mountain stream can be fine. But "going with the flow" in your Christian walk will result in eternal separation from God. Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it (Hebrews 4:1).
Brotherly, Jamie
