Pay attention
An extended focus on the ways we are prone to fail, spiritually, might seem overly discouraging. Yet that’s what the writer to the Hebrews gives us. We may not really think of Hebrews in this way, because there’s so much positive as well. But woven in among the positives, there’s just such an extensive look at spiritual failures.
It starts early in the letter:
We must pay attention all the more to what we have heard, so that we will not drift away. (2:1*)
How will we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? (2:3)
There’s two ways to fail, right there. Details aren’t provided, but we can readily see how they happen. Drifting away happens one small step at a time, a bit less engagement, a bit more distraction, not paying attention. Neglect isn’t deliberate—we would never say, “I choose to neglect salvation.” But it stems from more conscious choices than drift does, showing up in how our time is spent.
The next chapter shows us some more, and it gets very serious:
Watch out, brothers and sisters, so that there won’t be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage each other…so that none of you is hardened by sin’s deception. (verses 12-13)
An “evil, unbelieving heart.” that “turns away from God”? Risk of being “hardened by sin’s deception”? Surely that wouldn’t be us, would it? But this is written to believers. To us. The context here is Israel’s failure to go into the Land of Promise, scared by the size of the defenders and their fortifications. Being driven by fear is unbelief, classified here as “evil”. Sin deceives us—nothing new there. But the thing is, this self-deceit hardens our heart. We don’t think God can pull it off. This section concludes by equating disobedience with unbelief (verses 18-19). That’s serious.
The letter goes on to show us more ways to fail:
It is impossible to renew to repentance those who were once enlightened, …who tasted God’s good word and the powers of the coming age, and who have fallen away. (6:4-6)
…so that you won’t become lazy… (6:12)
For if we deliberately go on sinning after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins. (10:26)
…if he draws back, I have no pleasure in him. (10:38)
Make sure that no…root of bitterness springs up, causing trouble and defiling many. (12:15)
See to it that you do not reject the one who speaks. (12:25)
Keep your life free from the love of money. (13:5)
Don’t be led astray by various kinds of strange teachings. (13:9)
Don’t neglect to do what is good and to share. (13:16)
There are more. Next time you read this letter, keep an eye out. But the point isn’t to wallow in discouragement over all these failures—some of which you’ll recognize in yourself. Instead, notice that the antidote for these failures is provided for us, right there in the context!
This is the important lesson: For every failure, there is a way to counteract it. Pay attention. Engage. Be on the alert for how deceitful sin is, and how it can harden our heart. Be diligent for our hope, don’t be lazy. Don’t—just don’t—deliberately go ahead and sin. Endure, even if you feel like pulling back. Listen, and heed the One who is speaking to us. Be satisfied with what you have. Don’t get caught up in controversy. Or in seemingly profound teachings that conflict with what we’ve been taught. Do good, share, submit.
The first of these might just say it all: Pay attention. Pay attention to the Word, to yourself, to our hope, to the warnings, to the joy set before us.
Love, Paul
(* all scripture quotations from CSB)