When will God change a life gone wrong?

Woe to her who is rebellious and defiled, the oppressing city! She listens to no voice; she accepts no correction. She does not trust in the Lord; she does not draw near to her God. (Zephaniah 3:1–2)

The prophet is talking about Jerusalem; however, this passage describes someone that I know. Is it fair to change the name and place and be encouraged by what God says about a person not a city and apply it today as well as several thousand years ago? God is the same now as then except now we have these promises on this side of Calvary. The prophet goes on…

The Lord within her is righteous; he does no injustice; every morning he shows forth his justice; each dawn he does not fail; but the unjust knows no shame. (Zephaniah 3:5)

Yes, God has not changed. He is righteous and just, yet this person and many like her seem to feel no shame about their backsliding. However, God still speaks:

I said, ‘Surely you will fear me; you will accept correction. Then your dwelling would not be cut off according to all that I have appointed against you.’ But all the more they were eager to make all their deeds corrupt. “Therefore wait for me,” declares the Lord, “for the day when I rise up to seize the prey. For my decision is to gather nations, to assemble kingdoms, to pour out upon them my indignation, all my burning anger; for in the fire of my jealousy all the earth shall be consumed. (Zephaniah 3:7–8)

A day is coming when God will make all things right. He will deal with sin and those who have spurned Him, but look what He will do with those who are His, but are now without humility or loving obedience to Him…

“On that day you shall not be put to shame because of the deeds by which you have rebelled against me; for then I will remove from your midst your proudly exultant ones, and you shall no longer be haughty in my holy mountain. But I will leave in your midst a people humble and lowly. They shall seek refuge in the name of the Lord, those who are left in Israel; they shall do no injustice and speak no lies, nor shall there be found in their mouth a deceitful tongue. For they shall graze and lie down, and none shall make them afraid.” (Zephaniah 3:11–13)

He will make it right. My heart has been wounded with concern for this person and others who have been in relationship with God but are still wanting to run their own lives and have become haughty about it. God will sort it out. He knows how to humble the proud — or remove the proud.

Jesus, I feel so ignorant and unable when it comes to dealing with backsliding believers. The prodigal’s father let him go, but watched for his return home. How difficult now as there are so many lures to keep them in party-mode without any praise for You. Yet You got the prodigal’s attention by pig food and a deep longing for home. You know who they are — bring the wayward back to You, and help me from being anxious, annoyed, or judgmental as I wait.

 
 

Nothing is too hard for God

You brought your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and wonders, with a strong hand and outstretched arm, and with great terror. And you gave them this land, which you swore to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey. And they entered and took possession of it. But they did not obey your voice or walk in your law. They did nothing of all you commanded them to do. Therefore you have made all this disaster come upon them. 

Jeremiah said this to God about His OT people. I could say it to at least one person I know who declared faith as a young teen, then did not go very far with obedience. The actions are supposed to come from the heart, but a heart can be soured by selfish and disobedient actions. 
This is God's reply to the prophet and it speaks to me too. Those who profess faith are in trouble when their walk and talk begin to deny what God has done.

The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me? Therefore, thus says the Lord: Behold, I am giving this city into the hands of the Chaldeans and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall capture it. The Chaldeans who are fighting against this city shall come and set this city on fire and burn it, with the houses on whose roofs offerings have been made to Baal and drink offerings have been poured out to other gods, to provoke me to anger. For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have done nothing but evil in my sight from their youth. The children of Israel have done nothing but provoke me to anger by the work of their hands, declares the Lord. This city has aroused my anger and wrath, from the day it was built to this day, so that I will remove it from my sight because of all the evil of the children of Israel and the children of Judah that they did to provoke me to anger. . . . They have turned to me their back and not their face. And though I have taught them persistently, they have not listened to receive instruction. 

One would expect God to walk away but that is not the way He works. If anyone’s initial declaration of faith is the work of God, then He is not finished yet. This is what He answered to Jeremiah’s cries and to my prayers for such severe back-sliding:

“Now therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning this city of which you say, ‘It is given into the hand of the king of Babylon by sword, by famine, and by pestilence’: Behold, I will gather them from all the countries to which I drove them in my anger and my wrath and in great indignation. I will bring them back to this place, and I will make them dwell in safety. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their own good and the good of their children after them. I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me. I will rejoice in doing them good, and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, with all my heart and all my soul. “For thus says the Lord: Just as I have brought all this great disaster upon this people, so I will bring upon them all the good that I promise them. (Jeremiah 32:21–42)

He will bring them back. He will make them safe. He will rejoice in doing them good. Nothing is too hard for Him.

Jesus, You died for sinners, even those who started out okay and are in deep denial of who they really belong to. I’ve learned how easily we sinners slide away from You, You never give up on us. That reality is incredible. How can I say thanks for Your amazing grace!

 

Incredible Hope for those who ‘stop’ believing . . .

In conversations twice this week, we have discussed those who started out with an interest in spiritual truth and even made a profession of faith yet have turned away and seem no longer interested in things of the Lord. Did they lose their first love? Or did they not love Jesus in the first place? Were they Christians? Or did they just try to act like believers but without genuine faith?

Of course we do not have the answers. God knows the hearts of all people; this is not for us to know. Yet so many times I’ve wanted to know, usually because such information would help me pray. What kind of requests do I make for those who seem to have lost whatever faith they once had?

This morning, I read a long passage about the danger of falling away. The Greek term is apostate. With a bit of study, this word can mean several things. It is the context that is important. Here, the warning is to Hebrew converts who are suffering persecution and thinking they were better off in their old system of worship with its rituals and rule. They are told that Christ is better in every way and going back is not a good idea because salvation does not work like that . . .

For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned. Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things—things that belong to salvation. (Hebrews 6:4–9)

Faith produces results, like a useful crop. Unbelief produces results too, like thorns and thistles. If I believe in Jesus Christ and that He lives in me and has changed my life, I live differently than I once did. However, if I abandon that faith, my life will be show it. I could be anything from indifferent or angry against God and His plan of salvation. This is not to say I cannot repent of my unbelief and rejection of the truth. It does say that being restored through the same way that I was saved is not possible. I cannot be born again twice. Backsliders are restored, not re-saved.

What then is apostasy? One theologian says this is totally related to daily life, not any theological ideas or abstractions. As James’ epistle says, true faith must and will be lived out. That means apostasy is unbelief that shows up in life. This may happen in various ways such as “in the fierceness of the renegade or in the quiet alienation of the outsider; it may be exhibited in moral disintegration or in persecution of the saints.” It could also show up as going to church as ritual rather than worship, praying as duty rather than in communion with God, and loving my neighbors because it feels good rather than because God loves me.

In other words, apostasy is not always total. As one pastor put it, all of us are prodigals from time to time. That is, a Christian might be filled with all sorts of doubts and be double-minded in several ways. Many Christians experience the war of flesh vs. Spirit with the flesh winning more often than not.

The sad part is that the more the flesh is given the nod, the less a person is able to hear God and be convicted or even concerned about what God is saying. Their life reflects their “I wants” rather than His will and they began to look as if they were never saved in the first place. These folks may also doubt within themselves that they belong to God.

No wonder the Bible if full of warnings against unbelief, disobedience and turning away. It puts backsliders and apostates outside the blessings of an intimate relationship with Jesus.

The assurance from this and other passages is that this way of thinking-acting has no future. It is bound to darkness which shall pass away. Its power is merely the suggestive power of deception from which all believers are called back to steadfast perseverance:

But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. (1 Timothy 6:11–12)

Lord Jesus, my commentary says considering the richness of God’s grace, those who walk with You wonder why anyone would want to walk away. However, Your Word is clear; this falling away is a real danger and “not the way of rational theodicy; it is the way of struggle, the good fight, fought with clear recognition of the enemy and effective weapons” adding that these warnings are “a call for the endurance of the saints” because eventually You will bless us as You continue to lead us through to eternity with Yourself, our Lord God and Savior. Your promise is that You will finish what You start and I’m to trust that and press on.

Today’s thankful list . . .

- joy from these thoughts!

- the blessing of personal prayer time with Jesus.

- a lovely fall day.

- a drive to a small-town quilt show that was worth the trip.

- deep sleep for an hour before supper.

- able to enjoy sports on TV with my hubby.

Generational choices, bondage and freedom

2 Kings 13:1–14:29, Galatians 4:1–31, Proverbs 7:21–27

Children eventually reach an age where they want to be free from parental control and make their own decisions. At that time, most fail to realize the impact parents have made on their lives, for good or for bad.

When Jehoahaz the son of Jehu began to reign over Israel in Samaria he followed not only his father but the kings before his father. “He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and followed the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin; he did not depart from them.” Because of this, the Lord brought judgment by giving Israel continually into the hand of Hazael king of Syria and into the hand of Ben-hadad the son of Hazael.

Jehoahaz, perhaps in frustration, sought God’s favor and “the Lord listened to him, for he saw the oppression of Israel, how the king of Syria oppressed them . . . . Nevertheless, they did not depart from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, which he made Israel to sin, but walked in them; and the Asherah also remained in Samaria.” God even reduced Jehoahaz’s army to fifty horsemen and ten chariots and ten thousand footmen. (2 Kings 13:1-4, 6–7)

The next kings did no better. Jeroboam also “did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.” Yet the Lord saw the bitter affliction of Israel with no one to help them. He used Jeroboam to rescue them, showing that His mercy can overrule the wrath that sin deserves. (2 Kings 14:23–27) While the sons of kings often followed the pattern set by their parents, they were held responsible. No one can blame their parents for their sin.

The reading from Proverbs seems disconnected to these thoughts. However, it does describe how temptation can pull a young man away from parental guidance. Solomon began the section with a warning to “my son.” He told him (and us) to remember the teaching of his parents and avoid illicit relationships and those woman who persuade with seductive speech and smooth talk. He says if his son does not heed this parental advice and follows her, he is “as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as a stag is caught fast till an arrow pierces its liver; as a bird rushes into a snare; he does not know that it will cost him his life.” (Proverbs 7:21–23)

Solomon unwittingly pointed to the kings who came later and who reverted to the lifestyle and choices of their fathers. Some were good, yet many were evil and each generation paid the price of evil. Many young men ignore the wisdom of their parents and are ensnared, not only by a sinful woman, but other lures that she personifies.

For a Christian, the warning is to listen to our heavenly Father. If I make decisions apart from His wisdom, I will go back to the slavery and bondage to sin that held me captive before I became a Christian..

Paul writes, “Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? You observe days and months and seasons and years! I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain.” (Galatians 4:8–11)

Paul warns about legalism and rule-keeping. The rules in themselves are not necessarily bad, but Christ died to set us free from the law of sin and death. No matter how hard I try, I cannot keep the laws of God in the perfection they call for. Instead, those laws put me in bondage.

Freedom as a Christian does not mean I can live as I please. It does mean that my master is no longer a list of ‘thou shall not’s’ but instead is the Spirit of God who produces in me a freedom to live by faith in a delightful relationship with Him. I have no need or desire to be enslaved by rules.

It happens though. The people at Galatia turned back to the things they once trusted, choosing bondage to their religious rules and regulations. For them, it was slavery to the Law. For me, it could be anything from my former life such as thought patterns, pride, bad habits, even good ones, but anything that has no value, comfort, or worth in my Christian life.  

God saved me “just as I am” without the keeping of rules, but He loves me too much to leave me in that state. I have “come to know God, or rather have come to be known by God” (Gal 4:9). While I was still a sinner, He broke into my spiritual bondage and destroyed those chains, giving me freedom and a new life in Christ. I need to guard that freedom!

Follower or deserter?

The problem of writing the truths that Jesus reveals to me from His Word is that it works the same as a recipe or a grocery list. It I have it on paper, then I tend not to think about it or remember it the same way as if it were rehearsed in my head.
 

Those who instruct in the keeping of journals say that the value of a journal is lost if the author does not reread what he or she has written. The important truths revealed and understood from the Bible are the same. They require meditation, but even more, obedience. Just writing them down is a double tragedy for an attention deficit scatter-brain because I’m so easily distracted.

Today’s devotional reading from My Utmost for His Highest is about this serious problem. Oswald Chambers uses a verse that comes just after Jesus reveals a deep truth to the crowds that are following Him. Some of them could not accept what He said . . .

After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. (John 6:66)

Chambers says that when God gives a vision by His Spirit through His word of what He wants, and I am excited about it but do not follow through in obedience, I will wind up with a point of view that Jesus never had.

He says that this will start with an inner debate. Then certain things will begin to develop, such as a sense of property and a sense of personal right. I want to do what I want to do. Such an attitude is foreign to Jesus. He says that life does not consist in the abundance of what I possess. I understand this means more than the stuff in my shelves, but also any ideas I possess about how to run my life.

Chambers adds that I might also lie back and bask in the memory of the wonderful experience of that revelation rather than hopping to it, doing what it says. He warns me that if God reveals anything to me and I do not come up to it, and do not feel inclined to come up to it, that is the beginning of backsliding. It means my conscience has not answered to the truth. He says that I cannot ever be the same after the unveiling of a truth because that moment marks me. I will either go on as a more true disciple of Jesus Christ, or go back as a deserter.

To Live is Christ — pressing on

My sister gave me a cute birthday card yesterday. It shows an old cowboy on his horse on an impossibly narrow way, a trail that winds high on the side of a vertical cliff. The caption says, “That’s just the thing about birthdays . . . there’s no turning back!”

Maybe that is what I was thinking this morning when I read this question: “If your relationship with Christ became less, would you notice?”

At first I thought this was a dumb question. It seems to me that when Jesus reveals Himself to me, there is no turning back. I’ve seen Him and He has changed me. What He has done cannot be undone.

This makes me wonder about those people we call “backsliders.” I’m thinking, is that really a biblical description of those who seem to follow Christ and then turn back?

Paul describes his own life in the following passage, yet I also see here some clues about my question . . . 

I count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ. . . . I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you. Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us be of the same mind. (Philippians 3:8–16)

The New Testament speaks about people who are babies in their faith. It also talks about “young men” and mature believers. Surprisingly, it never mentions backsliders. Instead, this is an Old Testament term applied to the nation of Israel when they continually turned away from the laws of God. It is not used to describe Christians.

Instead, being a Christian is an organic thing, like a tree. God gives new life and that life is nourished by Him through spiritual disciplines (reading His Word, prayer, worship, fellowship, etc.), but if a believer does not do those things, they do not grow. The tree remains alive, but it is stunted.

At first, new believers are filled with the sense of their new life, but that is not to be confused with maturity. Like a tree, they need to grow. Some of that growth comes from weathering storms and unexpected challenges. During tough times, some may become discouraged and stop their spiritual disciplines. They do not die, but in the eyes of others may appear to have turned back.

To these, Paul encourages to press on (and I should too). Other passages say to “look forward” or “be diligent.” Peter wrote, “May the God of all grace, who called us though His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strength, and settle you” (1 Peter 5:10). Troubles are not the end of the Christian life; they one of the ways God uses to make us more like Jesus.

I know a few who seemed to have started the Christian life but fell away. I have no idea if they actually are “alive in Christ” or if their start was a false one, but I do know that the Spirit of Christ is relentless in His life-giving power. If life is there, it is still there through trials and difficulties. Those who seem to have turned back have not died to spiritual things, but have stopped taking nourishment. Eventually the Spirit within will nourish them and have them moving again along that narrow way. 

Copyright image by Equine Addicts