HEBREWS: "Lest we drift away"

This week was our 5th Sunday and we listened as Malcolm and Tilly shared their story. Next week we will continue with our study in Hebrews with Chapter 3 and possibly more...

This would be a good time to reflect on a verse we looked at last week: Hebrews 2:1:

"Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away."

I want to encourage you to ESTABLISH three things in your life in order to keep from "drifting away" from God and His purpose for your life:

1) Establish spiritual reference points - When a jet airliner is descending through a cloud layer to land at an airport, the pilots follow very strict guidelines to ensure the jet does not deviate off the vertical or lateral course. If it does, the jet could hit a mountain, building, tower or miss the runway completely and crash. Both pilots are quick to call out any variances and make rapid corrections.

The same goes for our spiritual life, we need to have reference points that show we are deviating off course. These might be: missing your daily time with God for more than a few days; not attending church or Bible study for more than a couple of weeks; finding yourself laughing or being entertained by sinful things you see on TV or a movie--the same things that Christ died for you now find funny and entertaining.

2) Establish an accountability relationship with another Christian - We need someone in our life that is serious about their relationship with Christ to be accountable to. It is almost impossible to live a committed life for Christ without accountability to another person or group who is focused on living for Christ and walking in Truth. This might be a co-worker, a spouse, your Bible study class. Accountability plays a bigger part in our staying on course than we can imagine.

3) Establish the habit of praying for discernment and courage - We need to pray everyday: "Lord, help me to see trouble coming a mile away and give me the courage to do something about it before it hits, no matter what it cost!"

It might be that business deal that might be a bit shady; or that coworker (opposite sex) you have been getting too friendly with; or that TV show that you love the story line but continues to minimize immorality and  ungodly behavior. Constant exposure to these types of entertainment begin to desensitize your spirit to Godliness. You begin to drift and compromise. The results are that your spirit grows hard and cold towards the things of God.

Establishing these three things will help to keep you from "drifting away" from God. Drifting is a slow process, but one that will soon take you far from the shore.