“Therefore, we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it … How shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?” Hebrews 2:1, 3a ESV
I love boats! With my work I had the amazing opportunity to earn my 500-ton US Coast Guard captain’s license and have extensive time behind the wheel of large power boats. There I learned a lot about drift. On the open ocean it is impossible to remain on course over a long span without a fixed point of navigation that can be seen from land or meticulously following a compass heading. As your boat moves across the water it is shifting under you related to tide, currents, and waves. Above the water there is often wind pushing you off course as well. When it comes time to enter the harbor, the captain must find the channel and carefully bring the boat to dock without running aground.
One of the most difficult areas of boat work is docking. The water is still moving, and the wind is still blowing, but the dock does not move and neither do other moored boats. Often the space to bring the boat into is confined and boats do not have breaks. A dual engine boat is controlled by countering the throttles to turn and reversing the throttles to slow or stop. As the captain nears the dock he must focus completely on the task at hand. Continuous throttle and wheel adjustments are made to counter the current, wind, and momentum of the boat. Even a few seconds of looking away can be disastrous, causing the boat to crash into the dock, other boats, or run aground.
We are called by the author of Hebrews to be alert in a similar way concerning the nature of our great salvation in Jesus, lest we drift away from it. Walking in godliness is very similar to piloting a boat, which is why the author uses this analogy. As we go through life – especially the post-modern, post-Christian world we live in – everything is pressing against us to throw us off course. The moral and sociological ground is literally shifting beneath us. The winds of societal isolation, multi-culturalism, and destructive technologies are blowing hard against our families and marriages. Like navigating on the open ocean, you will lose your course and go off chart if you do not pay close attention to what you have read in Scripture.
Similar to keeping your eye constantly on the compass globe, as Christians we must ever be in the Scriptures hearing constantly the will and purposes of God for our lives. We must be ever reminded of the specific wording of God’s commands. We must be reminded regularly of the specific wording of God’s promises and the revelation of His character in Scripture, because we do drift. Every one of us have made assumptions about God and His will, then acted on those assumptions, only to revisit Scripture later to realize you had forgotten what was actually said. Your thinking and actions were formed by the culture around you instead of by God’s revealed will.
You have drifted. You have gone off course. Sometimes we get so far off course, we are truly lost. In such cases you must get the map and the compass out and plot a course of direction for a known location to reorient yourself. If we find ourselves far off course in life, we must get out the Bible, be much in prayer, and set a course for basic aspects of godliness that we know we have left behind. From there we can begin to find our specific course again.
Some situations are like docking, they are tense, high pressure, and every second counts. We need to be aware of such situations and not drift into them. When you are in a situation where every word and every action matters, you must not only pay close attention but also not neglect to prepare for the situation beforehand. The author of Hebrews tells us that we have a great salvation that should not be neglected. The work of God in the world to save sinners through the cross of Jesus Christ is not a simple and easily mastered salvation. A child can believe the basics, but every believing adult will strive for a lifetime to understand the fullness of what God has worked out to fully save us in Jesus. We must know the details to live by them in the tightest circumstances.
What are some areas that we can easily drift in concerning our Christianity:
Remembering the character and commands of God. The words of our enemy Satan are always pressing in, “Did God actually say …” (Genesis 3:1). If you’re not sure because you are far from God’s word you will drift and potentially run aground.
Sins of omission. You can easily give yourself a pass on not doing something you know needs to be done. Or by way of careless distraction, not do what vitally needs to be done. I’ll never forget the time a teammate blew up a very expensive engine from overlooking one lever in the pre-start checklist – the lever that allowed the outside water into the cooling system. Or another occasion of a friend forgetting to put the plug in the back of his boat from distraction when launching the boat into the water. It was docked very nicely but sitting on the bottom full of water when we returned from lunch! Ruin can quickly enter your spiritual life through neglect and omission of important spiritual commands and realities.
Sins of commission. You can easily drift by degrees by allowing yourself to do one little thing after another that you know you should not do as a Christian. You must be very careful to gauge your actions by the standard of Scripture. A long journey off by only a few compass degrees can result in completely missing the target location. Small degrees of change are magnified over a long course. Sinning in “small” ways over time creates habits of willful sin. Patterns of willful sin in the life of a Christian will bring God’s discipline and hard correction (Hebrews 12:3-17).
Laziness. Piloting a boat, whether at sea or at the dock, is an ever-active process. The captain is responsible for the vessel and the souls on-board. If you are a father, you are responsible not only for yourself, but also for your household and family. There is no time where you can check out and indulge in laziness without your family paying a price. Many a ship has been lost through the neglect of the captain to stay alert and navigate the ship around danger.
May the Lord help us all to pay close attention to what we have read in the Bible and heard faithfully preached to us. May we deeply value every word that comes from the mouth of God. May we not neglect this great salvation of grace, and by so doing stay on the narrow course of salvation, one day reaching the safe harbor of the rest of heaven.
With the love of Jesus,
– Pastor Vic