Know Thyself
“What happened to those people?”
Have you ever found yourself asking that question? People you knew, respected, and admired who have left the faith seem like different people. It seemed for a time that their priorities and yours matched up. You attended the same events together, shared times of prayer, and even made the same decisions. They were role models, level-headed, sure of the truth. And one day they just stopped being all those things. It took longer than a day, of course, but humans tend not to notice until there’s a drastic change one way or the other.
Now you’re left asking the question I posed at the beginning. What happened to those people – the ones they used to be? What happened to the desire for God they once had? How did their choices in the church lead them out of the church, while you made the very same choices and remained? Good question. Jesus said, “a good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.” (Luke 6:45, KJV) While people can make the same choices for different reasons, individual motives will determine what happens in the long term.
What that means for you is not that you can be proud of your own motives – after all, Jeremiah wrote that “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9) This means that, even if you had lived perfectly all your life, your heart could still be in the wrong place. No one has cause to feel superior, and everyone has to constantly check their motives with God. When you get right down to it, that’s why us New Free Thinkers are here: every week, we will post a new article to challenge you and help drive you closer to God. We hope that each Monday finds you re-evaluating your life and diving deeper into the abundant life God has for you.
And most of all, we hope that you’ll get involved in the discussion so that we can share the experience with you! Click the comments link below.
I have seen this happen a few times, and every time it grieves me… i can’t even imagine what God must be feeling.
It blows me away to see that happen! I’ve seen it so many times with relitives. Its amazing that people can walk away from the joy of the Lord. The peace that passes understanding, the love that looks past all “boundries” of religion, color, country. . .etc. I guess it all comes down to how much of God you have for your ownself.
You’re right. It’s all about your connection to Him. It’s even tempting to try to manipulate other people to stay in the church if you can, because you know what waits for them outside. Someone who keeps the faith for the wrong reasons, however, is no better off than one who does not believe. In the end, we just have to keep loving people and making sure that we’re in the right place with God so that we’re in a position to help them if they realize what they’re doing.
I really don’t believe that we should question the motives of their hearts, for it is only God who truly knows them. It is up to the remaining Saints Of God to come together and pray for those people who lost their way. People leave for a number of reasons. If its by choice, or by Gods own hand. We shouldn’t really question how or why they left. The question we should ask ourselves, how are we going to get them back? Pray for them, encourage them, remind them of God’s love and power. I am not saying that we should try to force feed the word down their throats, just to be a good witness and a friend to them. We need to stop thinking about their walks with God and focus on our own, my pastor puts this very beautifully… Your salvation is up to you! Not yo mamma, or brother or gramma or your friends. The Bible says we have to seek out our own Salvation. We need to study Gods word to show ourselves approved. We need to pray to God that he shows them, the Light again. The bible says that the Holy Ghost will lead us to ALL truth, even if that person is backslidden. God will draw them back to him. They just need to make the time to listen to his still soft voice.
sbingham07, It is very true what you said about taking care of yourself, since only God knows the heart. But doesn’t the bible say you can judge a tree by the fruit it bares? Although I don’t think I should judge anyone, becasue I’m not God. I still have been able to learn from others mistakes.