Those who fall away . . .

RS made a profession of faith as a child, was baptized at age 9, attended church until he started college, then stopped. He began doing things that the Bible forbids and within a few years, his life was no different than most of his peers. While I believe that God finishes what He starts and that true salvation cannot be reversed, this person’s life is discouraging. Is there any hope that he will turn back? Is he a prodigal that has not yet “come to his senses” or is he an apostate that never really believed in the first place?

God knows human hearts and I don’t. However, this is the passage that I read this morning. Can I conclude that these words are describing this person?

Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother. (1 John 3:4–10)

John is separating the sheep from the goats. He is marking those with true faith as those who continue with Christ and are marked by spiritual growth. This does not mean no sin but less and less of it with more righteousness. Growing Christians are less apt to fall into deception and have more understanding of who they are in Christ. They are people in whom Christ lives and that powerful life makes itself more and more evident.

The story Jesus told of the prodigal does not tell how long the runaway son was in a “far country” feeding pigs or how long it took him to realize that he was being foolish. It does not describe the boy’s relationships with others who fed pigs, only his older brother’s accusations that he wasted his inheritance on prostitutes. It was not an encouraging description nor did it show any hope for that boy.

I waver when it comes to my prayers for RS. I don’t know how to pray because I don’t know where he belongs. He isn’t as far gone as the biblical prodigal, but he does fit some of the description in John of an unsaved person. (Then again, I suppose my own life is like that at times.)

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Lord Jesus, this isn’t the only ‘prodigal’ that I know whose current lifestyle sends the message that their childhood profession of faith means little or nothing. I could use some encouragement for all of them. Mostly I’d like to know how to pray effectively, knowing the greatest need in their lives. Help me with this in whatever way You know best.

Today’s thankful list . . .

- that I can feel sorrow for the lost and the wayward rather than not caring at all.

- Jesus knows and He is sovereign.

- getting my Wacom table to work.

- finishing half of the quilting on a twin-size quilt.

- Basa fillets steamed with orange slices – yum.

- only one spam phone call today (don’t answer those weird numbers).

Tests of Faith

For almost the entire year, I’ve been listless, unable to do much, slept a great deal and had little ambition. Now that my heart is running on a pacemaker and I have more energy, I’m starting to ask God what He wants me to do now that I can. I may have dozens of ideas but want to follow the Lord’s leading so am listening for His direction.

I didn’t hear the Holy Spirit in this morning’s devotional by Tozer so opened another. By God’s design, it talks about the importance of demonstrating faith by obedience. The Lord is reinforcing this determination to listen to Him, not to my ideas or even to the multitude of needs that clamor for attention.

The devotional begins with a firm statement; if I am a Christian, I will do what God says . . .

“And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says ‘I know him’ but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.” (1 John 2:3–6)

If I were in the army, I would obey the officers over me because that is part of being a soldier. Obeying Christ is part of being a Christian. It acknowledges that He is Lord!

Another part of being a Christian is that God is using all things to transform me into the likeness of His Son. Because that is happening, then the things I do should match up to the way Jesus lived and responded to those around Him. Sometimes when I’m in social situations, I am unsure of myself. The writer of this devotional says, “Remember you are a child of God and act as you believe a child of God should.” I like that advice.

The Bible also identifies true Christians by their love. This is obvious but not always easy!

“Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him.” (1 John 3:18–19)

As the devotional writer says, I cannot hate others and be walking with Jesus. My actions would deny my words. Recent sermons remind me that the people of God are not to play favorites or respond to people by the way they act, their appearance, or their status in life. Those sermons bring out the prejudices and biases of my old nature. They remind me of judgments my parents made that shaped my thinking. They also poked hard at the selfishness of making friends only with people that appeal to me.

The prayer at the end of this devotional is also a conviction but a good example of the needs in my heart. I don’t need to be perfect to serve Jesus, but change in some of these areas would be more than helpful so I am personalizing the prayer . . . 

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Lord Jesus, give me a humble, lowly, quiet, peaceable, patient, charitable, kind, tender and pitiful heart in all my works and in all my words and all my thoughts. Fill me with Your Spirit that I might have a full faith, a firm hope, and a fervent love for You that goes way beyond my love of myself. Grant me Your love and favor. I do not deserve it nor can I earn it but I know that You love me because of Your great goodness and grace. Enable me to love others like that — not because of who they are but because of who You are in me.

Gawking at accidents?

Today’s devotional presents a view of Christians that is startling. Tozer writes, “Through the leading and the power of the Holy Spirit, the Christian is involved in a daily life and habit that cannot be explained. A Christian should have upon him an element that is beyond psychology—beyond all natural laws and into spiritual laws. He points to the following passage:

“Hear, you who are far off, what I have done; and you who are near, acknowledge my might. The sinners in Zion are afraid; trembling has seized the godless: ‘Who among us can dwell with the consuming fire? Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings?’ He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly, who despises the gain of oppressions, who shakes his hands, lest they hold a bribe, who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed and shuts his eyes from looking on evil, he will dwell on the heights; his place of defense will be the fortresses of rocks; his bread will be given him; his water will be sure.” (Isaiah 33:13–16)

Tozer says, “A genuine Christian should be a walking mystery because he surely is a walking miracle . . . we Christians should be men and women out of the fire.”

The Bible calls God a “consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:29) because He is holy, hostile to sin, and can only burn on and on against sin forever. Who can stand against that fire? Only those who have been made righteous. Who are those made righteous? Those who believe in Jesus Christ and whose lives demonstrate that righteousness as described by Isaiah: walking righteously, speaking uprightly, despising any gain from oppressing others, shakes his hands refusing bribes, stops his ears from hearing bloodshed and shuts his eyes from looking on evil.

In a practical sense, the last two are gray zones. It seems to me this isn’t about being blind to what is going on in this world, refusing to read the newspaper or watch the evening news. It is more about that attitude that causes people to slow down and gawk when passing a highway accident. A reporter once told me that this is what sells — that inner desire to see blood and bad stuff. Without it, newspapers would not sell and he would not have a job.

This is poking at me. I click on my news app so I know how many people were killed in the latest weather disaster. Sometimes I’m looking for ‘good’ news, but good news is rare so I become curious about the bad stuff, the reports of increasing evil. There is something in me that tends to gawk. That something is sinful and not the attitude that passes the test of fire. God is telling me to deal with this, however slight it might be.

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For your name’s sake, O Lord, pardon my guilt, for it is great. (Psalm 25:11) It hasn’t felt like a big deal but Your Word speaks of this ‘hearing of bloodshed and looking on evil’ as something God’s righteous people do not do. I admit the desire to gawk. I also admit ignoring any conviction that I might have felt about it to the point that it didn’t seem important. Instead of stopping to look, I must imagine You holding my hand and giving me a totally different attitude toward the bloodshed and evil around me. I agree that such interest is ungodly and realize that You have a far different attitude toward looking at evil than I do. Change my heart.