Hebrews 2:1 So we must listen very carefully to the truth we have heard, or we may drift away from it.
Remember playing Chinese whispers at school? I don't know if they still play this game, or even if it's politically correct to use that title. There is certainly no evidence to suggest that the Chinese are any better or worse at passing on messages whispered in the ear! If you've never played the game its simple. A collection of kids stand in a line. One person at the start of the line whispers a message in the ear of the person next to them. They in turn pass the message onto the person next to them. No-one is allowed to ask for clarification, you must simply repeat what you think you heard. The last person in the line speaks outloud what they heard and everyone laughs at how the final message could ever have derived from what was originally spoken. Some sermons can be like that!
When you were not at church that week you ask someone who was "what did tne Pastor speak about on Sunday". The person then attempts to repeat what they think the Pastor said to those absentee. They then tell someone else "I hear the Pastor said such and such on Sunday". There is of course no guarantee that this retelling is now anything like what the Pastor said.
This happens with our own memory too. We hear something once said and store it in the memory bank one day. On a bad day the devil tries to play these words back to us - "didn't the preacher say such and such, you are not a very good christian are you". It's ironic how the devil did this in the garden of Eden with Eve. The devil questioned "did God really say you must not eat the fruit" and Eve replied "we must not eat it or touch it". God never said anything about touching and the Devil's business was to cause doubt and use good words to bring trouble.
The warning in Hebrews is that we must listen very carefull to the truth we have heard. This doesn't only mean we must listen carefully to what is preached but listen to the source of the truth - the word of God. After all the preacher is still the 2nd person in the chain of chinese whispers. The source is still the infallable word of God. So lets hold fast to the truth. Our memories will fade. Our enemy wil twist words to condemn, confuse and generally cause trouble. Our preachers will all at some point make a mistake in their preaching (I speak as one who does!) But the word of God never fails. 1 Peter 1:23 says his word endures forever.
So listen carefull to the truth of His word or we may drift away from it!
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