“We must pay more careful attention to what we have heard so that we do not drift away.” ~Hebrews 2:1

We’re struggling against boredom and a waning interest in things associated with church. We’ve lost our fire, we’ve plateaued. Maybe we’re drifting.

I think this can be deceptively subtle for Christians who were born and raised in the Church. I wasn’t born on a church pew, but my parents got me there as fast as they could. A lot of us have been in God’s Church for a long, long time. And I think it’s easy for us to drift. I’ve already done the work. I’ve already been saved. I’ve been doing this my whole life.

It’s really easy to think we can just take the pressure off. We can let other people do the praying and the thinking and the ministry. We can just go along for the ride. We can just go with the flow. We can just drift. Or we can think we already know it all and spend most of our time telling other people what to do and never spend a moment sincerely examining ourselves. We’re drifting.

One of the problems is that we live in a world of all signposts and no destination. The world is changing; everything’s shaking; and the culture says you’ve got to get off the path you’re on and do something different. We’re more and more mobile and less and less stable when it comes to extended families and where we live and where we worship.

And we are consumers. We’re constantly shopping for new material goods and for new experiences. And that can easily add up to drifting, just kind of floating around from one thing to another. We look for better preachers and better churches. We chase after practical books and helpful videos. We fall in with the shallow stuff at Mardell or fall for the power stuff on Fox News. We line up with science or we sell our souls to technology. We sprinkle on some new age and sample some Eastern philosophy. The spiritual reference points keep shifting as we attempt to navigate the chaos of our lives and the uncertainty of this world. And it’s all distractions! If we’re not careful, we’ll wind up making a bad trade like Esau: we’ll trade our salvation connection to Christ for the affirmation and acceptance of the culture. Of the “I want it all” attitude can turn into “I’m overwhelmed and paralyzed in the face of it all!” We can wind up being overcome in a cloud of meaninglessness or powerlessness. Shrouded in the mist. Hemmed in by the fog. Drifting.

It’s hard for us to see the truth. It’s hard to see the present, much less eternity. We can’t see it. But we can hear it.

“In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty in heaven.” ~Hebrews 1:1-3

God has spoken to us by his Son! And God is still speaking to us by his Son! Like a clarion blast sounding through the thick fog, God’s Word pierces the gloom, cuts through the mist, to announce what we can’t yet see but what we can certainly trust. God’s Word assures us that even though we’re being killed all day long, we are more than conquerors through him who loves us. We can’t see it yet. But we can hear it. And the preacher of Hebrews wants us to hear it.

“We must pay more careful attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.” ~Hebrews 2:1

Peace,

Allan