By Ann Farabee

She was not the only one, but she is the one I remember most.

She was a student in my class. She was beautiful, intelligent and she did her schoolwork perfectly. She never did her homework, she often came to school dirty, and she rarely talked. She was a loner, sad, and a victim of neglect.

How could a young child be so neglected? I soon discovered that it was partly because her family was going through a crisis and needed financial help. I intervened by seeking assistance to help meet their needs. She was able to receive help in the moment — and hope for the future.

She was changed. She had been paid attention to. She had been cared for properly. She is now a stay-at-home mom who helps her husband run a successful business, and who recently thanked me for not neglecting her.

Hebrews 2:3 warns us, “How shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?”

Neglect means to fail to pay attention to or fail to care for properly.

Can we fail to pay attention to our salvation?

Can we fail to care for our salvation properly?

Yes, we can.

We can neglect our salvation by failing to accept the gift of salvation.

Acts 16:31 tells us that if we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, we will be saved. Romans 6:23 says that the gift of God is eternal life.

We can neglect our salvation by failing to pay attention to it.

Accepting Christ is not the end of the matter — it is the beginning. It is not just a ticket to heaven. It is not a religion — it is a relationship. It needs to be nurtured and never neglected.

We can nurture it through prayer, praise, perseverance, reading God’s word, worshiping our savior, serving our savior, and telling the world what the Lord has done for us.

We can nurture it by making prayer our lifestyle, because when we pray, we are communicating with the one who died on the cross, was buried, and rose again, so that we could live forever.

How can we neglect our salvation and expect to hear the voice of God in our lives?

How can we drift away or take a wrong course when Jesus is our anchor?

Our salvation came at the greatest cost there has ever been — or ever could be — and all we have to do is accept it — not reject it — and refuse to neglect it.

Ann Farabee is a teacher, writer and speaker. Contact her at annfarabee@gmail.com or annfarabee.com.