Laughing Jesus by Robert Wilson, Sr.
Last week I shared the first part of Grace to Come Back Home, based on a series of sermons my pastor, Larry Scott, has been bringing to our church body. If you missed it, I hope you’ll check out that post first, titled 4 Causes for Falling Away From God. This week we’re looking at the symptoms associated with becoming separated from God.
5 Symptoms of Falling Away From God
Today we’ll take the next step by evaluating our own lives for the symptoms of falling away. Please note that much of the outline is taken from my pastor’s sermon, but most of today’s commentary is taken from my own experiences of life in evangelical churches.
1. We stop giving. We take the tithe hostage, using it as leverage to try to get our way. We act as if it’s our money, when in truth, it’s all His.
2. We stop spiritual disciplines. Have we stopped seeking His face in prayer and studying His Word? Are we avoiding His answers and turning a deaf hear to His voice? If we can avoid Him on an ongoing basis, we are treading on dangerous ground.
3. We find fault, we complain about everything, and become dissatisfied with the people, places, and things of God. Let’s face it, it’s much easier to point to others as the reasons for our problems than it is to take responsibility for ourselves. A Christian who is on a continuous fault-finding, disgruntling mission is very likely a person who is falling away from God.
4. We disconnect. We stop spending time together as part of the church body; we resign from roles and ministries; we avoid Sunday School, choir practice, and ministry opportunities.
5. We leave. We leave the fellowship. We leave the church. We may even be at risk for leaving Christianity. Yes, sometimes God really does take us in a new direction, at a new church. That’s not what we’re talking about here. In the case of falling away from God, leaving the church can actually mean we’re leaving God. Perhaps we left Him behind long ago.
Yes, I’m the first to admit that many of these things can be evidence of a problem at a specific church, rather than evidence of falling away from God. But the difference is in the heart, it’s the motivation. I’ve had friends in churches who have truly felt led to leave the local church for whatever reason, and they’ve gone on to grow in the Lord and work hard for the Kingdom.
But let’s face it, sometimes we’re deceived by the evil one. He leads us to blame the church, the pastor, the leadership, the programs, and everything else related to the church, when in truth, he’s enticing us to run from God.
And then there are other times when these complaints are simply our excuses, providing culturally-acceptable rationale to withhold our money, stop our study, complain, disconnect from the body, and leave the church…when in reality, our motivations, and perhaps our secret sins, are compelling us to leave God behind.
Do you find yourself struggling in one or more of these areas? If I’m honest, I have to admit that sometimes it’s easy to fall into them, completely unaware that Satan is the one holding the reins.
Living the Christian life means we must continually evaluate our hearts and examine our relationships with the Lord. After all, the first step to receiving His grace is knowing who and where we are. The second is reaching out and taking hold of the grace to come back home.
Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Psalm 51:10
I pray God’s blessing on the work of your hands and your hearts,
Vonda
