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‘We ought to give the more earnest heed to the things that were heard, lest haply we drift away.’
Heb_2:1 (R.V.)
To me’tis little joy
To know I’m farther off from heaven
Than when I was a boy.
How many feel that they are further off from heaven to-day than when they were boys and girls living away, perhaps, in some quiet provincial town or village, and now they have come up to the big city, and they have already begun to drift.
I. How do men drift?
(a) In the first place, there are sometimes currents that lead towards Christ, and yet men fight against them. There are parishes, homes, and businesses where in order not to live a Christian life you may have to make quite a struggle. But think what it means. Struggling against the God Who loves you; struggling against Him Who gave Himself for you and claims you as His own!
(b) On the other hand, there are strong currents to-day in which it is easy for men and women to drift, such, for instance, as the currents of unbelief. There are men and women, not only the young, but older men and women, who are being caught in the current of that false religion that is neither ‘Christianity’ nor ‘science.’ There are others beckoning us into agnosticism; others would be glad to draw us into spiritualism; then, again, there is the danger of Unitarianism.
(c) But there are also strong tides of worldly customs into which young men and young women easily fall. There is the ever-open door of the theatre or music-hall to allure them in for amusement and change.
II. See to the moorings.—The soul that is brought to know about Christ is not always really moored to Christ; we must see to our moorings. The ship brought up to the harbour is sometimes badly moored, and when the tide is strong she has a way of twisting round, and woe betide any other vessel near her. We may be brought to know a great deal about Christ, but unless there has been a real heart-surrender, our knowledge will not be of much use; and all the means of grace so blessed and powerful to help will be of themselves of no use, unless our whole being is yielded to the Lord Jesus Christ. You may have your beautiful services and helpful means of grace, but, after all, they are means only, they are the channels whereby the grace comes to our hungry souls; but we must see to it that the channel, the pipe, is kept clear, and not blocked by wilful sin, so that the grace cannot flow. As the great steamer has to be safely moored to the quay-side if it is to be in all respects safe, so we must be wholly moored to the Lord Jesus Christ else we shall certainly drift away from Him. This drifting is at first almost imperceptible.
III. Have the Pilot on board.—Look at that little boat so quickly brought alongside the great steamer! Why! It is the pilot that is being brought on board, and when the pilot is on board we know we are safe if the men in charge do what he tells them. That pilot is like the Holy Spirit, and if we want to get safely through, we must look out not only for the Pilot to come on the ship, but to take full possession. We must obey the man on the bridge! Aye, and you must indeed put the Heavenly Pilot also on the bridge of your life, and give Him the place of control and guidance—yea, the tiller of your will. He will steer you in a moment of time straight back to the Lord Jesus Christ. There will be no more drifting when you have let Him do that, and when you are determined to obey, to follow and to serve Him.
Rev. S. A. Selwyn.
Illustration‘Away in West Africa, in Yoruba, you would see opposite the door of a heathen compound something in the shape of a bee-hive, and inside a little lump of clay with eyes and nose and mouth made up of cowrie shells. This is the “devil god” that the poor people worship or rather try to propitiate. Just in front of that piece of clay, you would find a bit of red flannel, or cowrie shells or palm oil—offerings given in order to propitiate the god. “Something in my hand I bring” is their one idea. But the Christian African, east, west, north, and south, is taught “Nothing in my hand I bring.” No merits of my own are of any value, no acts of propitiation that I can do, will avail, but “I cling to Thy Cross, O Lord, my Saviour.” ’