Hebrews
2:1
Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest
we drift away. 2 For if the word spoken through
angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a
just reward, 3 how shall we
escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be
spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him, 4 God also bearing witness both with
signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit,
according to His own will? 5
For He has not put the world to come, of which we speak, in subjection to
angels. 6 But one testified
in a certain place, saying: "What is man that You are mindful of him, Or
the son of man that You take care of him? 7 You have made him a little lower than the angels; You have
crowned him with glory and honor, And set him over the works
of Your hands. 8 You have
put all things in subjection under his feet." For in
that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothing that is not put under
him. But now we do not yet see all things put under him. 9 But we see Jesus, who was made a
little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and
honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.
Imagine being presented with the truth of eternal life and walking
away from it. Probably wouldn’t happen, because KNOWING the truth, you’d have a
hard time turning your back on it.
“Drifting away” is the problem. Drifting away is a much more
common issue. Not a whole-sale sell-out, but a bit-by-bit incremental
letting-of-the-sand-slip-through-the-fingers kind of event. An event that
cannot really be seen. An event even the one allowing it to happen may not be
aware of.
The author of Hebrews, (Paul, I think,) says, “Don’t let that happen!” That it does happen - even among those who
are completely convinced of the truth is inarguable. Jesus’ warning to the
church at Ephesus in Rev 2 is succinct: “Return to your first love!”
How could you leave your first love – especially when your first
love is the guarantor of your salvation? It happens in various times in various
ways…the drifting away…
The danger comes with a creeping emphasis of the creation over the
Creator. What I can do becomes (in time) more important than Who I do it for. I drift back to
establishing a personal sense of righteousness based upon the righteousness I
perform rather than Who I am accounted righteous by. (Especially in comparison
to others.)
Since grace is superior to the Law, (which is “the word spoken through the angels,”) we
revel in the simplicity of grace and, well, the grace of grace. But there is no
external framework for grace, which is its greatest power while at the same
time its potential for an excuse to “wander”
away. Grace takes hold only from the inside, which is the basis of its great
superiority. The problem of a loss of love is this: it is invisible, it is odorless,
and it is tasteless. No one else knows…and perhaps not you…that you have drifted. After all, you are still in
church, and you are still serving the Lord. We must CONSTANTLY remind ourselves
how GREAT our salvation is.
- Pastor Bill
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