Hebrews 2:3-4 “how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.” [ESV]
I woke up one morning with this passage from Hebrews 2 on my mind. How do we find any hope in life if we neglect God’s great salvation? Scripture indicates we have no excuse. The Lord declared it; eye witnesses affirmed it; signs, wonders and miracles confirmed it. The Holy Spirit continues to provide us with spiritual gifts pointing to it. So much evidence exists that we have to ignore its truth with intentionality in order to avoid it.
But I’m afraid that’s exactly what many of us try to do. We numb ourselves to the reality of our condition. We can get along just fine on our own, thank you. Who needs anyone or anything telling us what to do? We divert our worship to things incapable of delivering us from our sin-soaked lives. And we accommodate our thinking to justify our behavior.
Sometimes we deceive ourselves by using Christianease as a cover for our neglect. Like a woman I know who decided to leave her husband. She just decided she wanted to move on without him, and she’s armed herself with a truckload of justification to support her infidelity. She tells me how much she “loves Jesus” but she willfully ignores all the warnings in his Word, through fellow believers and through the Holy Spirit.
I think neglect probably begins with small, seemingly insignificant, decisions. Reading Scripture stops being a priority; our prayers become flavored more with our interests than God’s. But most of all, we stop acknowledging God as the source of all the good we experience. The New Living Translation puts it starkly: “Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can’t you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?” (Romans 2:4)
Friend, let’s not be among those who neglect this great salvation. The price runs far too high. God is worthy of so much more.