Last night we talked about Hebrews 2:1-4 and the author of Hebrews' warning not to drift away in your faith. This reminded me of a time during spring break of my Jr. year of college, when I went on a mission's trip to Gales point in Belize, Central America. On our last day of the trip we had a chance to go snorkeling off the shore of the 2nd biggest barrier reef in the world. Second only to the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. The boat dropped anchor and we all dove in with our snorkeling gear. I thought I was a good enough swimmer to go without a life jacket, but I found out right away that the current was too much for my average swimming skills. All the Caribbean fish, nurse sharks and rays were pretty cool, but I was getting tired very fast. Finally our instructor called us all back to the boat, so I began to leisurely swim back to the boat. I swam and swam, then stopped and looked up. I was further from the boat than when i started!! So I decided to swim a little faster and harder. After 30 seconds I looked up again.....I had barely made any progress. The current was pushing me backwards at a rate almost as fast as I could swim myself. After a good 20 minute struggle, I finally made it back to the boat...exhausted, my lungs burning with the salt water, I flopped onto the deck of the boat much like the fish I had seen in the ocean.
Our group's leader, Liz, was not as fortunate. She couldn't make it back to the boat no matter how hard she tried (she was smart enough to wear a life jacket by the way.) Finally our instructor had to jump to rescue Liz. As he swam back with Liz under his arm, pure exhaustion and relief were evident on her face.
It is very easy to drift away in our faith. If we focus on the things of this world that are fleeting and in the long run don't mean much, such as popularity, image, fame; we may find our selves not where we want to be in our walk with Christ. Our relationship with Jesus needs to take priority. Through the muck and the business of life, Jesus must remain our focus, our top priority, our everything. As verse 2 and 3 reminds us...without Jesus we would still be stuck in our sins and still be facing the consequence for them.
So keep swimming towards that boat....put your head down and dig as fast as you can swim. God has dropped anchor and is waiting for you to swim back to the boat. And when you get tired, his arms will wrap around you and swim you the rest of the way.
-Matt
