The expectations of God are all too clear. There are simple statements such as faithfulness, overcome, obedience, righteousness, etc., that all illustrate the fact that God wants His people to adhere closely and strictly to His will. The task is great, but the benefits are worth it. Christianity truly is the greatest life a person can choose to live. There is, however, a way that Christianity can turn catastrophic. You see, the life of a Christian was designed by God for the faithful, and it even included contingencies for the soul that has lost its way and desires to return. What, though, about the soul that loses his/her faith, never to return. That truly is catastrophic. The person is still God’s child, bought and purchased by Christ’s blood, but no longer do they believe, and no longer do they obey. They are but a shell of their former selves, and thus their souls are lost.
The writer of Hebrews provided a strict warning of the danger of the soul, who once knew the blessings of Christianity, but lose their faith and reject the very sacrifice of Jesus Christ:
“For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame” (Hebrews 6:4-6).
There was the obvious context in which this was written given the great temptation these Hebrew Christians had to return back to the rudiments of Judaism. However, the broader application is quite apparent. Here is a soul who has made the conscious decision to pick up a life in Christ and displace himself once again into the world of sin. This is an individual who has drunk from the cooling and refreshing waters of Christianity, and now wants to return to the tepid and stagnate waters of sin. Observing such a sad scenario, we are compelled to ask two questions: (1) why would a person make such a decision, and (2) how can such a choice be prevented?
First, consider the reasoning behind such a catastrophe. The monstrosity of this mistake can only be understood by a Christian who knows the blessings found in Christ. The world sees nothing unusual with a person stepping outside of what they view to be a narrow and stringent lifestyle void of meaning and returning to a life that makes sense. However, to the Christian, such a decision represents the epitome of bad and faulty reasoning. Such a decision must likely come down to one of two reasonings: either, (1) there is something more appealing about the world than the church, or (2) there is something less threatening about the world than the church. The first line of reasoning represents a fault with the individual. There is little that can be said or done to convince a person that Christ’s way is better when for one reason or another it simply does not appeal to them. We must pray for them, encourage them, and try to teach them; but ultimately this problem resides with self and must be settled by self. The second line of reasoning, though, represents a possible breach of trust and fellowship. Perhaps they witnessed un-Christian behavior, hypocrisy, infighting, or other disastrous practices in the local congregation of which they were a part. Christianity is appealing, but when Christians do not act like Christians, then that shines a bad light on Christianity and can potentially repel souls rather than reach them. This fault must be corrected in order to shine forth true Christianity to the glory of God as commanded by Jesus (Matthew 5:16ff). Whatever, though, is the ultimate reason or excuse a person has for forsaking Christ and returning to the world, it is catastrophic to their lives and to their souls, and we must take all precautionary steps we can to prevent such from happening.
Ultimately, though, while knowing the reason can be helpful, the question that must be asked and answered is, how can we prevent this from happening, and how can we win those back to whom it has already happened? Brother Winfred Claiborne offered three suggestions that he believed the Bible supported in doing just that. First, he said we must listen to the right voices. If we will open our ears to the truth of God provided in His word, and forsake the lies presented by the world, then we will never fall prey to those lies that ultimately could lead us back into sin. Second, he said we should learn from the past. There are countless examples from scripture and from the modern era of those who have fallen prey to the temptations of the world whose lives have ended up in absolute wickedness and depravity, which illustrate the danger spoken of in Hebrews 6. Then third, he said we should look to proper examples. There are heroes of the faith that provide the course that should be pursued by every child of God, but ultimately look to Jesus as the greatest example of all. We can enjoy eternity with Him if we will follow Him. And while other points could undoubtedly be mentioned, these three seem to make the case well.
We have a personal interest in the pursuits of our souls and in the pursuits of others. We are brethren who want to walk together in fellowship in the here and now, but we must pursue the great fellowship that will exist in the there and then. Protect yourself, your family, and your friends from falling prey to a catastrophic Christianity that will damage the glory shown to God and will damage their eternities.