Love that Won't let Go

WARNING: It's been a long time since I posted last and I had to meet my word quota for the year.

“Is it possible for a believer, a follower of Christ, to turn away from the faith and be lost?"

In short, I would have to say, “no”. A Christian has been bought with the blood of Christ, which is sufficient to cover any and all sin. A Christian has been sealed by the Holy Spirit; in other words, he or she has been promised to be delivered to God (Eph. 1: 13-14). The illustration that best describes what this verse is saying is the tags they put on trucks after the shipment is loaded. The back door is locked and sealed and the driver signs saying that everything is in there and everything will be when he arrives. The seal shows that his word is true and the shipment is wholly there.

In John 10:28-29, Jesus says that He is holding onto believers, and just in case His grasp isn’t strong enough for you, don’t worry, God’s got His hand over you too. There is no way any one can be taken from God, and I’m pretty sure He’s not going to let anyone walk away.

Remember the sheep that ran away, Jesus said that the shepherd went out and found the one that left, leaving 99 to do so! Jesus gave us a lot of parables about things or people getting lost and then being found, not because one day it was stumbled over but because what was lost was being desperately pursued. For example, the Prodigal son’s father never disowned him, never cut him off from the family, but waited and watched and then in a very undignified way ran to him at first sight. So, I would say that a believer may be able to turn away from the faith and be lost, but not in the terms of lost or saved, bound for Heaven or Hell.

Repentance, though a part of salvation, is not the qualifier for it. Jesus died for our sins, ALL of them. He paid the enormous debt that out weighs all of our school loans put together, so much so that there was no way it could ever be paid for by us. There is NOTHING we can do to make it to Heaven, not enough good deeds, thoughts, or choices in the world to fill the gap between us and God (Titus 3:5; Ephesians 2:8-9). So after we receive what Christ did, simply believing the gospel, Christ being fully God and fully man, came, lived perfectly, died to cover the debt that was owed (all of it not just part) and rose again proving His God-ness, there is still nothing that we can do to hold onto this salvation by ourselves. It is a gift from God, and He must be the One who fulfills the requirements.

We, like sheep, will go astray again and again even with the wonderful love that God gives us (Isaiah 53: 6). Because like sheep, we too quickly forget what God has done. We forget that He gave manna in the desert, that He gave sight to the blind and raised the dead, and that He constantly and consistently meets the needs of His children. Instead, we limit His goodness and abilities and offer Him no chance to show us how high and deep and wide His love, grace, and mercies are. If we would remember these things and how BIG God is, maybe, just maybe we would stop wandering away.

On the other hand, being covered by the blood of Christ does not empty us of the desire to sin completely until we reach Him in Heaven, though we are no longer enslaved to our desires and to sin (Romans 6: 6). Now, though, we wage war with ourselves doing what we know we shouldn’t and wishing we could do what God wants us to do, having the “desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out” (Romans 7: 15- 20).

This however does not give us the ability to continuously dwell in sin and let grace cover it, because it will? The answer God gives is a resounding NO! (Romans 6:1-2) Should you keep eating because there is still food in the store or keep diving deeper because you have yet to reach the deepest part of the ocean? It’s kinda ridiculous and you are bound to get hurt or at least really sick. Sin, likewise, will only injure, never heal; only create hunger, never satisfy. A follower of Christ may be able to sin, but living in such a way creates barriers within his or her relationship with God, just like when a person makes bad decisions and friendships and family relationships are affected. But just like the relationships we can clearly see, this Heavenly relationship can be mended in the same way: communication and repentance.

God will not abandon His children. If you choose to follow Him, He doesn’t expect you to be perfect. Actually, He anticipates our mistakes, He gives us the choice to make them or not, and He has already forgiven and paid for them. AMAZING!