Day 1 · Monday
Drifting
Hebrews 2:1–4
You Can Hear the King and Still Miss His Kingdom.
Read
Hebrews 2:1–4 · ESV
1Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.
2For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution,
3how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard,
4while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.
Reflect
Knowing the names of the lighthouses has never saved a ship that was drifting past them.
The greatest danger to a churchgoer is not the truth he has never heard. It is the truth he has heard so often that he no longer listens.
"We must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it." Mark the word. Not run, not rebel, but drift. No sailor ever drifted on purpose. He simply let the anchor up, leaned back in a comfortable boat, and stopped watching the shore. The water was calm. The sun was warm. Nothing felt wrong. And when at last he looked up, the harbor was gone.
So it is with the soul that says, "I've heard that before." That man is not fighting the current of God's Word. He is resting on it, and it is carrying him away. He knows every landmark on the coast. He can name the doctrines as a sailor names the lighthouses. Yet knowing the names of the lighthouses has never saved a ship that was drifting past them.
The Pharisees were the finest pilots in Israel. They had charted every verse. And when the Harbor Himself stood before them, the Christ of whom all the Scriptures spoke, they drifted right past Him and called His works the devil's.
Beloved, how does a man stop drifting? He does not need a new sea. He needs to drop anchor in the one he already knows. He must hear the old gospel as if his life depended on it, because it does. When the preacher speaks of repentance, let him ask, "Is this mine?" When the Word speaks of patience and love, let him ask God for the fruit and not merely admire the word.
Pay closer attention. Sit up in the boat. Look for the shore. The danger is not that you have heard it before. The danger is that you have heard it and stopped listening.
Respond
What truth have you heard so often that you have stopped letting it examine you, and how will you listen to it again this week?
Write your answer in the Echo Church app. It saves with each day.
Pray
Father, I have heard Your Word so often that I have grown comfortable in the boat. Wake me up. Anchor my heart to what I have heard, and do not let me drift past Christ while I know every word about Him. Give me ears that listen again. In Jesus' name, Amen.
