TruthApplied.com

We have all seen the following:

=> A person is on fire for God and then drifts and turns away from God.

=> A respected Christian is involved in hidden sin.

=> Someone grows up in a Christian home and seems to have a real faith, but turns their back on God.

=> A person may be like David and appear to suddenly dive into a specific sin.

Why do people drift away from God? How can this be prevented?

I want to know the answers, so I can prevent it from happening in my own life as well as the lives of others.

Over the years I have observed, studied scripture, interviewed people who have drifted away, and even spoken with those who have come back.

There can be many reasons. Maybe a person was not saved or never grounded in the faith. However, I have discovered there are three errors a believer can make. When a believer makes and continues to make these three errors, they will drift and fall away from God.

Error #1: Forgetting God

1. Forgetting what He has done in the past, in scripture, and in other people’s lives (Ex 13:10-11). This leads to discouragement and disillusionment. Trials can make it easy to forget God.

2. Forgetting God in our daily life (Mark 12:30-31; 2 Tim 4:10). Instead of remembering God in our thoughts and actions, we allow other things to take our focus. Solomon’s wives took his focus off God. Money, success, trials, and so forth can do the same.

3. The Solution: remember God. Remember what He has done and remember Him in daily life. Devotions and fellowship are important.

Error #2. Sliding down the Staircase of Comprise (2 Sam 11).

1. David did not wake up one morning and decide to commit adultery and kill a woman’s husband. He would have probably said that morning that it would never happen. However, he went down the staircase of compromise and hit rock bottom.

2. Individuals who turn their back on God, get involved in deep sin, and so forth went down the stair case of compromise. This principle appliess to every area from moral, to spiritual, to integrity, to church involvement, to bad habits, etc. I know of Christian couples that were committed to staying pure till marriage, but they went down the staircase of compromise.

3. The farther down a person is, the harder it is to come back.

4. The Solution: Repent, Repair, Return.

Error #3: Thinking I can’t fail or this will never happen to me (1 Cor 10:5-13).

1. Wrong view: “This will never happen to me.” It could be divorce, falling morally, turning away from God, financial trouble, etc. Scripture is clear. When we think we can’t fail, watch out!

2. Right view: “This can happen to me, so I am going to take steps to make sure it does not happen.”

© Arlen Busenitz — 2006.

Feel free to forward the link.

Given at Church (March 2006) and CYIA Chapel (June 2006)

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 11th, 2006 at 9:22 am and is filed under -CYIA 2006, Christian Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.