I don’t like this thought…it haunts me and I wish I could do something about it…but the more I reflect on this I believe it is a reality.
No matter how hard I pray, no matter how much I study, no matter how passionately I teach, no matter how many systems we put into place and no matter how hard I cry…there will always be people who choose to ignore God’s truth and walk away.
AND…that’s not necessarily always my fault. (Or yours!)
Don’t get me wrong…I am always looking for ways to improve what we do around here. I always want to give God my absolute best. I want to see as many people meet Jesus and follow Him for the rest of their lives as possible.
BUT…for me (or you) to think that just become some refuse to follow Christ…or some follow Him for a while and walk away is always OUR FAULT is from the enemy.
Jesus taught in the parable of the sower that some people won’t even hear the Word…they will come to church, say something like, “maybe one day,” or even “that crap doesn’t work” and leave.
Jesus also taught that some people would receive the Word, spring up quickly…but then fade away because they had no root. (This is the person that receives Christ, shows up at everything the church does for the next six months and then disappears and becomes impossible to contact.)
Jesus then taught that some people would receive the Word…but then allow the worries of life to choke it out of them. They become more obsessed with money than with Jesus.
Then He taught that SOME seed falls onto good ground and produces a crop. (AND…not every seed produces the same level of harvest…different subject for a different time.)
What I am trying to say to church leaders is this…Jesus didn’t promise ANYONE a 100% success rate. And for us to ALWAYS take people leaving and/or falling away as something that we did wrong will eventually lead to fear, depression and an unwillingness to take steps of faith that might make others uncomfortable.
We should NOT use the fact that Jesus said some will fall away as an excuse to be lazy…but neither should we allow it to make us feel guilty when we know in our hearts that we’re doing exactly what Jesus has called us to do.
Our temptation will always be to internalize and personalize every perceived failure in this area…and we just can’t let ourselves go there. (Pastor Steven, once again, had some great insight on this here!)
Hope that encouraged someone today.