Life That Doesnt Drift Away
(Heb. 2:1ampsim9)
Life is full of unexpected events. We need to stand firm in the Word so that we do not drift away in any storm or torrents of life. In order to keep our faith lest we should drift away, we need to do the following.
1. Put the top priority of life on salvation. We drift away unless we pay special attention to the Word no matter how often we hear it. Thats why we are placed in our community where we reflect on ourselves. Mokjang is a spiritual operating table where we see our sins. We need to attend the gathering and enjoy the Sabbath even though it sometimes hurts us. We can drift away in an instant without being alert. Why? Its because we set our own emotion, values, and experience as the standard. We need to replace it with the Word that weve heard in order to set ourselves right above all. If we ignore the gospel, the great gift of God for our salvation, we are to face his punishment. For the gift of salvation, God the Father conceived his plan from eternity past and the Son was crucified, through which the Holy Spirit helped us with effective power. Thus salvation cost our Lords crucifixion and the blood of apostles and martyrs. The supreme life is not to neglect salvation. Yet we drift away in the tide of the worldly despite our great salvation, because of the daily big and small urgent issues. Unless we hold on tightly to salvation by the Word, we will be swept away by the tenacious tide of sins. Then we drift away from holiness to happiness, beatitude to prosperity gospel, and the new song to the song of the sword with our old habit of desire and lethargy. Departing from salvation leads to destruction.
2. Remember that God is always mindful of us. In order not to drift away, we need to get rid of all misunderstanding of ourselves and restore our identity. Modern Christians biggest problem is that they tend to fall into the fallacy of negative cognition in their faith life. They are well aware of the Word and know that they are sinners. But in their life, they are losing their light and their flavor of salt. They struggle with money, indulge in carnal pleasures, burning like an oven whose fire the baker need not stir, and they submit themselves to the worldly angels. Why is it so? Its because of our distorted self-identity. Before God, our life is like a flower that blooms in the morning and withers in the evening. Should we make this fleeting life a sinful field of thorns and thistles? Nevertheless God promises that he is mindful of us. While we are always forgetful of God, God is always of mindful of us. God doesnt take care of great figures with angelic appearance. Rather he looks after those who reveal their weakness and confess their sins like a dead dog. Thus we became his beloved and loving child even though we dont deserve it. God takes care of us to show and give us his glory to come. Our identity is based on this. We are nothing but 100% sinners before God. Yet we are also his beloved one. Thus we are the most miserable but at the same time the most precious being in the world.
3. Look at the cross of death that Jesus carried. In order not to drift away, we need to notice the trials of Jesus, who lowered himself down to the bottom of all trials. But God made everything submit to Jesus. Yet we are blind to this. Thats why we fall over the trials and drift away despite Gods salvation and his caring for us. Surrounded by the winds of trials, we often panic and are scared to death because of darkness and blindness, which God calls a temporary trial. God gives the crown of his glory and honor to those who serve him with pleasure, taking earthly trials as temporary. God gives his grace to us so that we can taste the flavor of death. In our trials of death, what we need to do is just taste it. However, we try all our best to get out of it. Thats why our trials are endless. We want to get rid of trials and enjoy a well-to-do life. Yet God wants us to recognize the nature of our trials. He wants us to crucify our secretive sins through our trials of death and obey his will. And he wants us to pass the channel of holiness, named trials and finally share the eternal life with others. God committed this exclusive mission to us for good reason. Its hard for us to understand the meaning of trials allotted to us by God. However, as the Lord of Alpha and Omega started the trials, he will surely finish it. Whose trials are you looking at now? God tells us to watch the Christ who suffered the trials of death. May God bless us all to drop the anchor on the Word and stand firm in faith until we pass through the trial of death and be the sharer of Jesus life!
We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. (Heb 2:1)
