Drifting away from God

Our family is out of town on about 26-30 Sundays out of the year for our choice of work.  Because of this we are privileged to attend other church services all around the area.  One of our most favorite is Church in the Pines in Alexander City, AL.  This past weekend we heard a message about a young boy and his friend who were in a boat tied to the harbor.  When the dad got off the boat for a minute, the rope became unattached and the boys drifted away.  The guest speaker said his dad dove in and swam to get the boat and drag it back to the dock.  He suggested that life is a little like that.  We often drift away from God and what we know to be true.  Sometimes there is no reason and sometimes the reason it to fulfill selfish desires.  Sometimes it is what everyone else is doing and we believe them to be right. Sometimes….the list of reasons goes on and on.  Those two little boys’ boat was drifting away from the dock but the dock never moved.  God is also a constant in our lives.  He never moves away from us, we drift away from him.

Hebrew 2:1-3 says, “ 1 So we must be more careful to follow what we were taught. We must be careful so that we will not be pulled away from the true way.  2 The teaching that God spoke through angels was shown to be true.  And every time his people did something against that teaching, they were punished for what they did.  They were punished when they did not obey that teaching.  3 So surely we also will be punished if we don’t pay attention to the salvation we have that is so great.  It was the Lord Jesus who first told people about it.  And those who heard him proved to us that it is true.”

Such a simple sweet story was told, but I will remember it forever.  Living in a lake town it will be an ever present reminder that God is our constant every time you drive past a dock and see the boats coming in to harbor that we have the chance to grow closer to God if we so choose.