Post by tlsitd on Aug 2, 2018 6:29:16 GMT -5
HOW GOOD CHRISTIANS GO BAD: 3 Things That Hinder And Sabotage The Faith Of A Believer
1. LACK OF VIGILANCE
Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flows the springs of life. (Proverbs 4:23)
Over the course of his or her Christian lifetime it's quite easy for a person to forget that it is Jesus Christ and obedience to Him that is his or her life, and to begin to think that life is other things---health, business, friendships, family, pleasure, possessions. But none of these things are what the Scriptures counsel us to guard, but rather our heart, which, if we are spiritually regenerated and have the Spirit of Christ living in us, is the source of our life, because the one who gives us life dwells there and counsels us from there. ("Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, 'Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.'" Now this He said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive... (John 7:37-39))
If we go astray there, in our priorities, desires, and attitudes, our Christian life will be skewed and impaired according to our heart---and we may even ultimately lose our life in Christ altogether.
"As for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature." (Luke 8:14)
"But watch yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap...But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength (or 'be accounted worthy') to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man." (Luke 21:34,36)
This world is full of distractions, and our natural selves are inclined toward the same, and toward serving ourselves. But the Christian life, at its heart---its essence---is not a thing that you have on the outside or merely a thing that you do, but your relationship with and obedience to the one who lives in your heart. Paying attention to Him---the guidance and counsel of His Spirit and of His written word---and living by those two things is what keeps a Christian awake spiritually, and prevents him or her from becoming drowsy or being ensnared and led astray by anything from without or within. If we cease to pay attention to those two things, and to live according to them, we will lose our focus in life and become increasingly self-focused and preoccupied with other things that are not God's priorities or His will for us.
2. LACK OF DILIGENCE
Peter sums up this point in his exhortation in his second epistle, in 2 Peter 1:3-10.
Our faith walk does not operate on autopilot; we must continually apply ourselves to the maintenance and perfection of it. God does not do it for us while we go about doing whatever we please.
People like things that are quick, convenient, and effortless---like instant meals that cook themselves and like audio lessons that they can learn while they sleep. Our faith walk is not like this. God works with and in us to sanctify us, but He does not do all of the work for us subconsciously and secretly, while we play or sleep.
We have a personal responsibility and choice to do the things that Peter counsels us to do in 2 Peter 1:3-10, and to do those things which we are counseled and commanded to be mindful of, to pursue, and to avoid elsewhere in the New Testament. God tells us what to do to maintain and improve our sanctification, and He works with us to enable us to do those things if we choose to follow His instructions. But if we choose not to do what His word tells us to do, and neglect these things, what He says in His word will happen to us will happen to us. God is not going to do for us what He says He will do for us if we do what He tells us to do unless we choose to do what He tells us to do! If we choose not to do what He tells us to do in His word, we will reap what we sow.
For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these things you will never fall. (2 Peter 1:9,10)
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. (James 1:22-25)
...You have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God...Solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. (Hebrews 5:11,12,14)
For land that has drunk the rain that often fall 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. For God is not so unjust as to overlook your work and the love that you showed for His sake in serving the saints, as you still do. And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit promises. (Hebrews 6:7-12)
"Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of My God. Remember then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you. Yet you still have a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with Me dressed in white, for they are worthy." * (Revelation 3:2-4)
*Refer back to Luke 21:34,36
3. BAD COMPANY AND BAD COUNSEL
Cease, my son, to hear the instruction that causeth to err from the words of knowledge. (Proverbs 19:27)
If the dead are not raised, "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die." Do not be deceived: "Bad company ruins good morals." Wake up from your drunken stupor and do not go on sinning. For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame. (1 Corinthians 15:32-34)
The Holy Spirit is our Counselor, our Comforter, and our Helper, and He works with God's written word to do these things for us. Christians who turn to the world for the things that they should be getting from God, or who choose to listen to and keep company with Christians (including Christian teachers) who are disobeying, distorting or diluting the doctrine of Christ and are teaching others to do likewise, will stray from the faith in their belief and practice.
And when they say to you, "Inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter," should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living? To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn (or 'because there is no light in them').
(Isaiah 8:19,20)
But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty (or 'perilous times shall come'). For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.
(2 Timothy 3:1-5)
Well you heard it from the Holy Spirit. You can choose to do otherwise, but you're setting yourself up for trouble. Any person whose heart is not set on Jesus Christ, to do His will, and on God's word, to live by it, will pull at you and wear you down to their level.
A wise Christian seeks to surround him or herself with edifying company that stokes their love and zeal for the Lord and encourages them to be strong in the faith and to persevere in obedience to God---not with sandbag and dry ice company that hinders them and cools them down.
"Get behind Me, Satan! You are a hindrance to Me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man." (Matthew 16:23)
(I'm not suggesting that you should actually say this to compromising, apostate Christians who try to persuade you to do as they do, but you should keep it in mind. Then again---as the Spirit leads...It might do them some good! )