Zombies!

Hebrews 2:1
Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away.

Drift away! That doesn’t sound good at all. It sounds like Tom Hanks in that movie, Castaway. I get this mental image of a person all alone on a raft made out of broken timbers, floating helplessly on the ocean, when I read “drift away”. A poor lost soul, who at one point in time stood on solid ground, cast away with no hope. Is that what you think of, too?

Spiritually speaking, that is exactly what the writer of Hebrews is implying here. If we don’t cling to what we have heard, making it the top priority in our lives, we’ll drift away from the faith. We’ll become a lost, hopeless castaway drifting away from the blessings, love, favor, and honor granted us by the grace of Christ. But what is it that we have heard?

The Good News, Gospel Truth, Salvation Message, that is Jesus Christ. Jesus died for your sins! You are forgiven, made whole, in right standing with God because of the atoning sacrifice of His Son, Jesus. You are blessed according to the riches of His glory. The work is finished; the law is fulfilled and satisfied. These are the things that we have heard, the things that have brought us to a profession of faith in Jesus Christ’s finished work at the cross.

Is it possible, then, to drift away from Christ, to become a non-Christian? No, but it is possible to drift away from His grace, to become a spiritual zombie: the un-dead Christian (not dead, but not alive either). I’m about to explain how this happens.

When you come to the realization that you are forgiven in Christ and accept that His grace is sufficient to cover all of your sins, transgressions, mistakes, and flaws, you are saved. But in many Christian circles, that’s where grace stops and the “do-do” principle starts up again. We tend to go back to the idea that you have to work to be a good person. Lessons are taught every Sunday around the world about how to be a better Christian, as if doing more, being less sinful, makes you a better person in the eyes of God.

This is what Paul refers to in Galatians as “fallen from grace”. (You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. Galatians 5:4) When the law is used as a tool to measure your standing as a Christian (whether or not you’re doing a good job), you void the abundance of grace that Christ has extended to you. The life that He came to give you, the abundance, peace, joy, love, and rest that He promised (Matthew 11:28, John 14:27, John 10:10), is set aside so that you can receive based on your own merit.

Guess what that leaves you? Trials, restlessness, and scarcity, all of the curses that were part of the old covenant under Law. By choosing to live under God’s law (which He’ll allow), you’re forfeiting His grace, becoming a spiritual zombie, the living-dead. You’ve drifted away from the good things, the most important things that you’ve heard (Jesus’ salvation and grace), and have chosen to live a life based on your goodness.

There is no need, however, to live this way. Cling to Christ, to His blessings, to His grace, and enjoy His favor in your life. Give the most earnest heed (top priority above all else) to the Good News that you have heard: Jesus died for your sins; you are forgiven; you are blessed, loved, and highly favored by the King of kings. Don’t drift hopelessly on your raft; jump off and refresh in the ocean of God’s neverending, infinitely supplied, grace.