The Drifting (aka The Dumb)

“We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.  For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?...”  (Hebrews 2:1-3)

Ask anyone with an ounce of common sense and they can tell you that driving a car and sleeping are not two activities that should be done simultaneously.  This is something I know too well, seeing as I have been on both the driving and passenging (yeah, I know it’s not really a word, but it’s one I use to refer to “what you should be doing if you’re not the driver!”) side of such a mistake.

One occasion involved a busy weekend with little sleep for myself and three college friends.  The decision to leave Oklahoma at 3am to travel back to our campus in Missouri was, in retrospect, not a wise one.  When staying awake became a struggle and my pleas for someone else to take over driving were rebuffed, I did what any 18-year-old college kid would do….I just kept driving.  It wasn’t long before I found myself “waking up” to discover that I was in a different lane than I had been in just a “moment” before. Then I’d wake up again and find that we were barreling down the shoulder of the road.  My wife’s grandpa has been fond of telling me over the years that the “Lord looks out for the dumb” (I’m not sure, but I think I should have been insulted by that).  All I know is that by the grace of God we somehow made it back to campus safely (to this day I’m not sure if two of the passengers realize how close to death they came – I married the other one and have since confessed my “dumbness” to her!).

The other sleeping/driving incident occurred on a trip home to Pennsylvania from Missouri.  My father and brother had flown to Missouri to see my wife and I graduate from college and the plan was for us to drive them back to Pennsylvania.  We left late in the evening in an effort to avoid as much traffic as possible.  Dad was going to drive first so I could catch a few hours of sleep in the back seat before taking over.  I will never forget the shock of waking up to the car bouncing through the grassy median in the middle of Interstate 44 and seeing nothing but tall grass out of every window.  Dad had fallen asleep at the wheel and my Cutlass Supreme had decided to do a little off-roading.  Fortunately, the God who looks after the dumb was once again merciful and no one was hurt (and thanks to the massive amounts of adrenaline now pumping through our bodies, nobody had any trouble staying awake for the rest of the trip!).

So why do I bring up these incidents?  To discourage nighttime driving?  To warn you against riding in the same car as me?  No.  I bring them up because they demonstrate the danger of “drifting”- an activity that Webster’s Dictionary defines as “to move along a line of least resistance; to move in a random or casual way; to become carried along subject to no guidance or control.” It’s what happens to cars whose drivers fall asleep behind the wheel.  It’s what happens to a boat that’s not properly anchored or tied off.  And it’s what the author of Hebrews warns us can happen to a believer whose not taking pains to “draw near to God” (James 4:8) on a continual basis.  See, “drawing” is the opposite of “drifting” and must be done on a regular, intentional basis.  One of the scary things about drifting is that it is such a gradual, subtle process that it can happen without a person even being aware. The next thing you know, you find yourself “waking up” far from where you thought you were. 

The band Casting Crowns have a song entitled “Slow Fade” whose chorus captures the essence of “spiritual drift”:

It’s a slow fade, when you give yourself away  
It’s a slow fade, when black and white have turned to gray
Thoughts invade, choices will be made, a price will be paid
When you give yourself away
People never crumble in a day
It’s a slow fade, It’s a slow fade                

“Spiritual drift” has two main contributors:                             

Laziness – the path of least resistance – the refusal to consistently practice the spiritual disciplines of worship, repentance, fellowship, reading the Word and prayer

Selfishness – subject to no guidance or control – the refusal to heed the voice of the Holy Spirit and respond in obedient submission

The author of Hebrews not only warns against spiritual drifting in the passage above, but also provides the remedy against it.  “We must pay more careful attention” is the admonition given to us.  Sounds a lot like the words of Jesus to His disciples who kept drifting off to sleep when they should have been praying – “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation”  (Matt. 26:41). 

There is very little room in our relationship with Christ for standing still.  If we’re not “drawing” then we’re probably “drifting”.  And drifting, if not corrected, can be deadly – “how shall we escape…?”  Don’t become another fatality on the road of faith; stay awake (watch) and stay on course (pray) and the Lord who “looks out for the dumb” will take care of anything you encounter along the way.  Hey….it works for me!

Clark Hausman
Clark is the pastor of Moyock Assembly of God