Hebrews 2:1 - Burying the cat

A patient shared a sad story the other day...

There was a man (her son??) who adopted a rescue cat in the winter months. He bought all the essentials: toys, litter box, food, etc. They hadn't had the cat very long when he came home from work. His son had the sad news, "Dad... someone ran over the cat. It's out in the street."

"Well, son, we can't leave it out there. You get the cat and I'll start digging a grave."

Of course, the ground under the snow was frozen, so it took a while to dig even a small hole for the cat. Afterward, quite worn out, the man went into his warm house and sat down in his easy chair. That's when a cat--his cat--brushed up against his leg. 

He had to call his neighbor.
"I hate to tell you this, but I just buried your cat."

You're probably wondering how this ties into any scripture verse. Well, granted it was probably difficult to identify a frozen, flattened cat. But the story does illustrate the need to pay attention to what we're doing. 

"For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it."  (Hebrews 2:1, New American Standard Bible, 1995)

The passage says that God has announced a rescue operation to save us from judgment, but if we drift away from that, what chance do we have then? (verses 2-4) Have you ever sat down at your computer and found yourself following some rabbit trail that had nothing to do with what you were looking for? That's how easy it is to "drift away" from the good news God offers us.

Lord, keep our minds sharp and focused on the truth found in the Bible, the message of forgiveness and love found in Jesus, Your Son in whose name we pray. Amen.