When I am on holiday at my favorite Florida resort, I love to drift in the lazy river. I could do it for hours. When I was a child at the cottage, I loved to take the boat out into the middle of the lake, kick my feet up, and fish while drifting with the wind. On these occasions, drifting is a relaxing, refreshing, freeing experience. It’s not wasting time because the purpose is just that: slow down, chill, calm the body and the spirit.

But drifting can be dangerous on other occasions. I recall the story of a friend who laid back in a canoe in the Florida everglades, closed his eyes behind his sunglasses, caught a few zzzz’s until he was rudely awakened by a rocking motion – an alligator trying to get into the canoe with him! Or drifting in the Niagara River above the famous falls is probably not a good idea either.

Hebrews 2:1 = we must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away … how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?

Disobedience and disinterest can have fatal implications. Do not drift towards death and destruction. Embrace the gifts God offers in his son Jesus.

We are finishing 6 weeks of study and preaching on Rick Warren’s popular decade-old book The Purpose Driven Life. I feel like the warning of Hebrews is appropriate in this context too. What a tragedy to waste a life. Let’s know why we are placed here on earth, for this time, for these purposes. Let’s live according to our divine design. Let’s not squander the short time we do have.

I don’t think Rick Warren is making this stuff up out of thin air. I see it in the Bible: Ephesians 5:15-17, Psalm 90:12, Deuteronomy 10:12,13, Acts 26:9-20, 1 Corinthians 9:19-27

Are there specific steps you can take to make sure you live according to purpose? It is never too late. Here is my simple prayer: God help me to learn from the Apostle Paul how to ‘get purpose’ and how to ‘stay on purpose’. I’ll be paying attention tomorrow.