“Lapse from truth and goodness is more often
the result of inattention than of design.” Vincent
At the beginning of the second chapter of Hebrews is a warning:
“We must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it.” Hebrews 2:1
O how easily we “drift away” from truth and righteous living, not because we intended to, but because we simply “let it happen”! In the very definition of the words “drift away,” is the literal meaning, “to slowly deviate from something, suggesting a gradual and almost unnoticed movement past a certain point.”
While we, as Christians, may be on the lookout for the “big” sins and distractions that pull us away from Christ, we sometimes forget about the day-to-day faithfulness that is necessary to our spiritual health. Look at what theologian F.B. Meyer says:
“It is so easy – and so much pleasanter, to drift. Just to lie back, and renounce effort, and let yourself go where the waters will, as they break musically on the sides of the rocking boat. But, ah, how ineffable the remorse, how disastrous the result!”
There will always be some kind of negative consequences to letting yourself drift. So it is important that you keep yourself aware of where those dangers to drift are for you. It may be old habits and associations, pressures, temptations, or your own sinful nature that pulls you away from God.
Knowing ahead of time that the danger of drifting is there, we must be diligent and careful of heart to keep ourselves ever in right relationship with God, so that He might alert us when we begin to drift.
I encourage you this week to take time to ask God if you are drifting! It’s never too late to do something about it if you are, and God is always gracious and ready to help. It is His desire to “keep you from falling” (Jude 24).
May you have an alert awareness of your spiritual condition at all times, and be ever vigilant in keeping yourself sensitive to the Spirit of God, that He might guide you into all truth at all times!
