God Motivation and the Love Slap

Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.
(Hebrews 2:1-4)

Just prior to the words here, we're given the second "Jesus is better" lesson--Jesus is better than the mighty angels.  Because this is true, the argument then follows that the message Jesus brought is heftier than everything else in the Old Testament.  It's not that what Jesus taught was in opposition to what was written there; in fact, it carried right along with it and even reinforced all that was before.  It's simply that the whole deal is tied up in Jesus.  He fulfills it, gives it all its intended meaning, and adds a weight to it that makes the truth of the Scriptures that much more substantial, bringing a new hope for a great salvation.

The author was likely writing to people who already had an appreciation for their Bibles.  They took God's Word seriously and saw that to do otherwise was foolishness.  Sin was punished; God was a righteous God of justice.  And then Jesus came and brought before their eyes a new flavor of grace, mercy, and love--things that they didn't have as complete a picture of before.  When He left, His message continued through the apostles, and their words were confirmed through the amazing things God did among them to reveal that they were not acting on their own.

Why then was the author of Hebrews concerned for his readers, giving them a warning not to ignore or drift away from the message of salvation that Jesus brought?  I think the answer is simple--that's what we're tempted to do when we get slapped with grace-filled love.  "Oh, God is no longer into the justice and punishment thing?!  I get it--cool!!"  For whatever reason, what tends to happen once we realize we're a bit "safer" is that we decide it's OK to start ignoring God and arranging our own lives instead of holding on tightly to our magnificent Savior, saying with delighted exuberance, "Just say the word, Jesus, and I'm all over it!"  Somewhere that cry of our heart gets lost.  And somewhere along the way we forget that the big and final Judgement Day really is a coming reality, a prophesy that's as true as all the other ones that have been fulfilled, as true as the ones that told us Jesus was coming in the first place.  As we hear and receive the message of salvation that came through Christ, God should all the more be our motivation for all that we think, do, and say.