Our Scripture meditation is based on Hebrews 2:1, from the Epistle Reading for next week.
“Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.“
I read through this verse a few times, and each time I ended up pondering…canoeing.
A friend and I bought a canoe when we were in middle school. On the water, a canoe is always drifting. Canoes on lakes slowly drift with the wind or with unseen subsurface currents. In creeks and rivers canoes drift easily downstream and drift to the left or right when being paddled upstream.
The fact that drifting is constant means canoeists must always remain alert. Submerged tree snags and rockpiles are always a risk. Unlike kayaks, canoes were not made for whitewater. In this way, canoe is an analogy for this passage.
The author of Hebrews exhorts us to pay “much closer attention” to what “we have heard.” We have heard biblical teaching about the person and nature of God. We have heard biblical teaching on sin and forgiveness. We have heard biblical teaching on how study Scripture and worship God. Due to our fallen natures, there is always a risk that we will drift from what we have heard.
Canoeists also hear quite a bit about how navigate in water. If canoeist fail to be vigilant in applying what they have learned, sooner or later they will roll or wreck their canoes. I can speak to this firsthand. So also, if we drift away from what we have heard we risk floating into moral dilemmas or ethical quandaries. The Apostle Paul even uses a nautical term in describing what can happen if we drift too long or too far from what we have heard. In 1 Timothy 1:19 he describes two disciples who “have made shipwreck of their faith.”
The correction of our drifting from what we have heard starts with God. Through his law, God makes us aware when our drifting toward temptation or into sin. God corrects our course through the forgiveness of sins earned for us by Jesus. God the Spirit then points us to what we have heard about faith and life, guiding us to make midcourse corrections as we go through our days.
Kevin Wilson 360 