The possibility of a child of God drifting away from Him and, therefore, falling from grace, is real.  The Hebrews writer warns us about this danger.

Hebrews 2:1 (ESV)
¹  Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.

While we are all susceptible to drifting, it is not inevitable.  God has given us an anchor.

Hebrews 6:18-20 (ESV)
¹⁸  So that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. ¹⁹  We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, ²⁰  where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.

The Hebrews writer refers to the typology of the Old Testament tabernacle here.  In the tabernacle, the curtain separated the most holy place from the holy place.  Only the high priest could enter the most holy place, and he could only do so once a year on the Day of Atonement (Hebrews 9:1-7).  The most holy place, also called the holy of holies, was a type of heaven because it contained the presence of God (Exodus 25:21-22).

When the Hebrews writer said that Jesus entered the inner place behind the curtain, we know he was not referring to the physical structure on earth because it would have been unlawful for Him to enter.  Instead, he was referring to the antitype that the type foreshadowed, that is, to heaven itself.  Jesus entered heaven as a forerunner, giving us the hope of someday entering there as well.  This hope is our anchor.

If we want to avoid drifting away from God, and faithfulness to Him, we must keep this hope before us.  Biblical hope consists of desire and confident expectation.  So, we must first make sure that we continue to have a strong desire for heaven.  This means we must keep heaven on our minds, rather than being focused on the things of this world.  Paul said, “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on the earth (Colossians 3:2).  When our desire for heaven is on our minds, we will live in such a way to obtain it.  Hope, then, keeps us pure.

1 John 3:3 (ESV)
³  And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

We must next make sure that our confidence in going to heaven is strong.  Remember, biblical hope involves confident expectation.  As Christians, we should expect to go to heaven because God has promised us eternal life if we are faithful until death (Revelation 2:10).  When we have both desire and confident expectation, we will be grounded in Christ and avoid drifting.  It is in this way that hope serves as an anchor, and from this standpoint, we are saved or sustained by hope.

Romans 8:24 (ESV)
²⁴  For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees?

Hope serves as a powerful deterrent to sin.  Let’s keep this hope before us so that we never fall from grace.

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.