Sorry there was no blog last week. I was out of town. So I walk into random tonight and a student has a giant marshmallow. She brought it because of our discussion two weeks ago. After sharing it with a few friends she followed up with another marshmallow question. She asked if a giant marshmallow would get hard just as easily as the smaller one we found. Her actual point was what if someone had given their life to Christ and grown in Him (giant marshmallow), but then decided to walk away and no longer listen to or follow God’s word. So that led us to a discussion of backsliding. Now let’s go a little deeper.
Is it Possible to Backslide?
Yes it is. There are some who believe that once you give your heart to Christ you’re set for life no matter what you do. That’s not the case. Judas is a great example of that. He was clearly one who had given his heart to Jesus and did not finish well. It’s not always about how you start. It’s about how you finish. (Mt 24:10-13)
Can a Backslider be Forgiven?
Still yes. God’s word says that when we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 Jn 1:9). There is a passage that causes a lot of confusion in Hebrews 10 about this, but that is talking of a final apostasy. It refers to an ultimate rejection of God and that you would die in that state. Then you’re out of luck and there is no more sacrifice for sins that will save you. As long as we are alive and the Holy Spirit is drawing us to Christ we can repent and be forgiven.
What are you doing?
So I asked the group, “What are you doing to keep from falling away?” I said I wanted to know specifically what they were doing. I wasn’t looking for typical Sunday School answers of pray and trust the Holy Spirit. While that is a great answer if you’re not doing it that’s not what I wanted to hear. I got answers like, “I try to pray each day” or, “I try to read the Bible at a certain time”. There really weren’t a lot of concrete answers of what we are doing to actively grow in our relationship with God. To quote the wisdom of Yoda here, “Do or do not….there is no try.” We need to put some active faith behind what we say we believe, or we may fall away and not finish strong.
So I ask you, dear blog reader, what are you personally doing to make sure that you don’t become a giant hardened marshmallow and ultimately be lost without God?
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