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Drifting Away




The second chapters of Hebrews begins with these words: “Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.” We do not want to be guilty of drifting away. What is the author referring to?

 

The things “we have heard” were laid out in the first chapter, namely that Jesus Christ is supreme over all things, the only one able to bring us salvation. Drifting away from that would be terrible. But I want to point out something that should be obvious: drifting takes time. 

 

It has been pointed out that the Greek phrase employed by the author of Hebrews has nautical connotations, describing a boat that was carelessly tied to the dock; when the boat’s owner goes back to retrieve it, he will find that it has drifted away. However, that same phrase has also been used to describe the process of evaporation. Go outside and pour some water on the ground, and eventually you will not be able to find that water. It has made its way into the clouds and will eventually fall down as rain. 

 

This process takes time. Drifting away from the truth is just as slow as evaporation; in fact, it is usually even slower. Rarely does a committed church member wake up an atheist. The drift away from God and His truth is more often seen in a series of compromises over a period of time. This is what we must be on guard against. 

 

Sometimes these people who have drifted find themselves in a crisis. They receive bad news and don’t know what to do, and then they remember they used to pray in times like these. But now they are far from God, and their prayer lives have become a little dusty. Describing this drift, Louise Evans, Jr. once wrote, “The process is not dramatic, nor sudden; rather, it is insidious and quiet. The shock comes when one returns to use the faith in a time of need and finds it has evaporated with neglect.” 

 

I am not talking about a person losing his salvation, because I do not believe the truly saved can become unsaved. I like how Louis pegged it—a period of neglect resulted in the drifting away. Regularly spend time in the Word and on your knees, and you will stay docked in your faith. Ignore God through your own neglect, and you will drift far from shore.  



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