Pay Attention

“We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so we do not drift away.” Hebrews 2:1



“Pay attention!” How many times have we heard that line? Seems to be a favorite of elementary teachers, parents of teenage drivers, and God—not necessarily in that order. Each has something important to say, but the price of disobedience grows increasingly costly—flunk your test on dividing fractions, get a ticket for speeding, or miss out on God’s plan for your life.


“We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so we do not drift away.” This admonition comes not to those who don’t know the Lord but to those who have grabbed hold of God’s grace. Our faith came by hearing the word of God(Rom10:17), and our effectiveness comes by continuing to listen. Paying close attention is more than not snoozing during Sunday’s sermon. It is perking up both our ears and our hearts each day of the week to what God has said.


“I’d love to listen more carefully and consistently, but my schedule’s already stuffed,” you sincerely offer as an excuse. Consider this: there will never be enough time to do everything everyone (including you) wants you to do, but there will always be enough time to do what God wants you to do. And He wants you to “pay more careful attention” to His Word.


If you don’t, you’ll drop your paddle and drift—drift away from the flow of God’s will into the undertow of the world where you will end up off-course, marooned, and shipwrecked. Yes, those are serious penalties, but if we don’t pay attention, we will pay the consequences. “For if the message spoken by angels[God’s Old Testament Law] was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?”(Heb. 2:2-3). God Himself has spoken a message of grace and redemption in Jesus, and as His own, we should not disregard His words, even for a day. His “word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart”(Rom. 10:8), so consider it closely and carefully.


Drift is much more unintentional than deliberate. It comes not from doing something but from doing nothing. “Such a great salvation” and such a great Savior deserve our efforts to engage and absorb what God has said. The phrase, “Pay more careful attention,” implies that doing so is not free, but the price of an adjusted agenda or shifted priorities is more than worth the cost. Drifting is effortless and easy compared to rowing in God’s flow, but the living the journey in God’s current is incomparable.


Don’t drop your paddle.
Pay attention.