Don’t Drift
“Pay more careful attention…
don’t drift away.”
Hebrews 2:1 (NIV)
Last week my women’s Bible study began digging into the book of Hebrews. This New Testament pastoral letter was originally written to a group of weary, discouraged Christians who were tempted to return to Judaism because of the suffering they were facing. Some of them had already faced imprisonment, confiscation of property, and loss of family and community relationships because of their witness for Christ. Many wondered if the cost of discipleship was worth it. The anonymous author writes to encourage these suffering saints to persevere and keep going.
He reminds them (and us!) throughout his letter that Jesus is better, better, better. He’s better than angels; better than Moses; better than Joshua; better than the temple and its sacrifices. With his atoning death on the cross, Jesus gives us a better covenant, better promises, better possessions, and better hope. Because Jesus is better, better, better, we as Christians should not go back, shrink back, or hold back in pursuing Christ.
The opening words of Hebrews 1 have been described by Pastor Tim Keller as “nosebleed Christology.” In answering the question, “Who is Jesus?” the writer of Hebrews explains that Jesus is:
God’s final Word of revelation and redemption (1:1)
God’s Beloved Son (1:2)
The appointed heir (1:2)
The Creator (1:2)
The Radiant Glory (1:3)
God’s exact representation (1:3)
The universe’s powerful sustainer (1:3)
The Majestic Ruler (1:3)
Our sin purifier (1:3)
The angels’ authority (1:4)
The Anointed One (1:9)
The Eternal One (1:12)
The victorious warrior (1:13)
Following his glorious explanation of Jesus identity, the author quickly inserts a sobering word of exhortation writing, “We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we don’t drift away.” (Hebrews 2:1)
Notice that we aren’t called to just pay attention or even to pay careful attention. Instead we are encouraged to “pay more careful attention.” In his sermon Christ: The Final Word, Tim Keller says this phrase in the original language would read, “Be furiously obsessed with the gospel.” Why are we called to pay more careful attention? So that we don’t drift away from Christ!
About ten years ago we were at the beach on our family vacation. James Bruce and I grabbed a raft and began floating on some waves. He had a life vest on, but I foolishly didn’t. At first the ocean waves were very calm, and we stayed close to the shore in shallow water. I gradually relaxed as the warm sunshine, gentle gulf breeze, and saltwater waves carried us along. James Bruce began singing and I closed my eyes for what seemed like a few seconds before looking up and realizing we had quickly drifted far from the shore. While we were floating and singing, the ocean current had gotten stronger. It had taken us much further out than we should have been. Panicking, I imagined both of us drowning because of my carelessness. I began paddling and kicking as fast as I could against the current. Eventually we reached the shore, but I was shaken. Drifting isn’t just dangerous; it can be deadly.
Theologian Don Carson says:
“People don’t drift toward holiness. Apart from grace driven effort, people do not gravitate toward godliness, prayer, obedience to scripture, faith & delight in the Lord. We drift toward compromise & call it tolerance; toward disobedience & call it freedom; toward superstition & call it faith. We cherish the undiscipline of lost self-control & call it relaxation. We slouch toward prayerlessness & delude ourselves into thinking we have escaped legalism. We slide toward godlessness & convince ourselves that we have been liberated.”
Author and Bible Study teacher Paige Brown agrees.
“Privilege is the most effective way to dislocate our center from God and to dissolve our life and death dependence on him. We live in a world dying to include us...It is the seduction of the everyday drift to a center of worldliness, a re-centering, a draw to do anything but live as resident aliens… Ships don’t sink because they are in the water. They sink because the water gets in them.”
All of us will drift when we take our eyes off of Christ. That’s why the author of Hebrews encourages us to “fix our thoughts and eyes on Jesus” (Hebrews 3:1, 12:2). We anchor ourselves to Christ. With a fixed focus we, by the power of God’s Spirit and the grace of God, can avoid drifting and have a firm stand and a faithful finish.
What are we doing to avoid drifting?