"ADRIFT"
By John Ankrom
What comes to mind when we think of being "adrift"? Once having a 30' foot cabin cruiser up on the Saginaw bay I lost power and was adrift until I was able to restart the engines. Being adrift is very scary, why? Because you have no control, you have no steerage; you are at the mercy of the current, the wind and the waves, without power, without direction, you are in danger of disaster.
In Hebrews 2:1 the writer tell us "Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip". This has the idea of "to flow by, to carelessly pass or miss" in other words to drift by without notice or care. Today are we giving heed to the things we have heard from God's word or are we adrift, floating along this life as if we had no thought or care of the things to come?
What are some of the signs of being adrift? What are some of the warning signs that we can look for? Unlike modern day GPS units or tracking devises that sound an alarm when we go astray, being adrift spiritually many times take place so slowly, it's not even noticed until it's too late.
The first sign I think that gives us a clue that we are drifting is our diminishing desire to study God's word. Over the years we have read, studied and memorized verse after verse, and after a while we just simply stop being excited, we lose focus, and we start to drift.
Secondly we may be adrift if our desire to be with God's people diminishes. When we start resenting our time spent with our brothers and sisters, when we start missing services because we would rather stay home or be with our worldly friends doing worldly things, then it can be said we are drifting away? Hebrews 3:12-14
There are many more signs of being adrift such as diminished prayer, or the diminishing desire to share the Gospel or the increasing thrill of the things of the world. If we can see any of these things in our lives, could we not be adrift, could we be without our anchor?