# “Drifting is the easiest thing in the world” by Sinclair Ferguson

- Link: https://tollelege.net/2025/08/14/drifting-is-the-easiest-thing-in-the-world-by-sinclair-ferguson/
- Published: 2025-08-14T09:00:00-05:00
- Author: tollelege

“Hebrews is all about persevering in sanctification. Without holiness, writes the
author, ‘no one will see the Lord.’ We must therefore ‘strive’ for it (**Hebrews
12:14**).

He uses vigorous language. His verb (διώκω, strive) appears regularly in the New
Testament with the sense of ‘persecute.’

Such strong language was needed here because these Christians were facing hardship
and opposition. They therefore needed to pay careful attention to the gospel, to
digest what they had heard, so that they would not drift away.

What do you need to do to slow down and go backwards in the Christian life? Hebrews’
answer is: ‘Nothing.” Drifting is the easiest thing in the world.

It is swimming against the tide that requires effort. And the Christian life is 
against the tide all the way. Spiritual weariness, being ‘sluggish,’ is one of our
great enemies. The author is all-too-familiar with its tell-tale signs.

Christians then, as now, were confronted by many pressures. Some of them had suffered
deeply for their testimony to Jesus Christ. We might think that anyone who has withstood
trials would be in no danger of failing to persevere.

But the battle to be holy is fierce, the opposition is strong, and the obstacles
are many. Even those who have won great victories in the past can become weary. 
Spiritual lethargy can set in, and we begin to drift.

We constantly need to be encouraged to keep going (**Hebrews 3:12-13**).”

–Sinclair Ferguson, [_Devoted To God: Blueprints For Sanctification_](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1848716907?tag=toletaupanre-20)(
Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth Trust, 2016), 191.

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