subject: Hebrews 2:1--how Precious Is Your Faith? [print this page] Its amazing how one word can change everything.
Hebrews 2, verse one, time: somewhere in the first century. The verse: Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away. This has always been a powerful verse, but then Hebrews is a powerful book, brimming with powerful passages.
We are one chapter away from the beginning of this book. The author has introduced Christ Jesus, the Champion, who has been the Word of God from before the beginning of time. Through Christ God spoke and through Christ all things were created (Hebrews 11:3, Ephesians 3:9). His voice, the voice of Christ, is powerful, even more powerful than the words of the conscience, of the prophets, and of the angels, Gods final source of communication before judgment. And concerning these words, we have to be careful. Because in Christ they were manifest in human form, made flesh for all to see and to handle and to hear; and today we have no excuse for ignoring the voice of God.
To these words we are first encouraged to give the more earnest heed. There are two parts to this section. Of the first is the more earnest, of which our English would read more super abundantly. Of the word heed our definition is given to hold the mind; or rather to be cautious. Of the voice of Christ, the words He spoke, we are first and foremost told to be super abundantly cautious with it. There can be no greater warning in all of history than this: to be super abundantly cautious. We could say this in regards to nuclear power plants, or nuclear warheads; of venomous reptiles or exploding volcanoes. Yet the Word of Christ is more powerful than all of these, in that His words go beyond the physical to affect the spiritual. The physical is temporary, but the spiritual is permanent. What happens should we disregard the Word of God will haunt us for all eternity. Thus, we should be super abundantly cautious in what we do with Christ, the Son of God.
To that which we should be super abundantly cautious with is that the Word should not drift away or, as some versions read, to slip away. To this term some translators see the loss of a precious ring from a finger, as it slipped off accidently. But the term is also nautical and farther reaching in this aspect, and so to this idea should we turn. In this thought the idea is given to a ship, safely moored in port, slipping away from its anchorage.
In the day this verse was written there were great cargo ships which ferried cargo and people up and down the coast. These ships were designed for shallow waters and their crews were not trained, nor the ships equipped, for deeper waters. Thus they would sail by day, with the coast always in sight, for the coast was the source of its safety. If darkness from night or storm kept the crew from seeing land, then they would dock in a place of safety until it was light enough to see.
But sometimes, sometimes accidents will happen. And although the anchorage was thought strong and tight, in the middle of the night when the tides were active the mooring would loosen and the ship gradually be drawn away to sea. There the sailors would awaken to the violent tossing of the ship and, rushing aboard decks, would find themselves in open water with no land in sight. And in those times the ship and all that was on it would be shipwrecked.
That this can happen spiritually is noted in the writings of Paul (I Timothy 1:19). We cannot save ourselves and are completely dependent upon Jesus Christ; just as these sailors were upon the land. Later in Hebrews chapter twelve the writer would say, Fix your eyes upon Jesus, to which our modern day wording might read superglue your eyes upon Jesus. To permanently affix is what this statement is trying to get across to the reader. If we take our eyes off of Jesus, it is like taking our eyes off the road when we are driving.
Yet this is what the enemy of our souls wishes to do. He wants us to get our eyes off of Jesus. He puts things in our path that divert our attention. Maybe it is a new job, a new car, a new boat, a new hobby. Whatever it is, it is something that will compel us to take the time we give to Jesus away to invest it into something else. No, we dont give up all our timeat least, not at first. At first it is just a tiny amount. As we continue in our wayward life time will gradually be consumed by our new god. And then we will awaken in a storm, with the crashing of lightning and thunder all about us, and find that God is nowhere near.
And we should remember that in such a time as this, it is not God who moved, but us.
We have heard the words of life. We have heard the words which brings salvation to our souls. It has redeemed us and set us free; it has given us hope and the assurance of eternal life. These opportunities do not present themselves all the time. And when we receive this offer of spiritual freedom, we should not only accept it, but guard it as the treasure which it truly is. We should be super abundantly cautious when it comes to the matters of our salvation.
