He who separates himself seeks his own desire, He quarrels against all sound wisdom.A fool does not delight in understanding, But only in revealing his own mind.
PROVERBS 18:1-2 NASB
This is how pride takes over and self delusion and self destruction begins. The word says that the enemy prowls around like a hungry lion. Lions hunt herd animals by singling them out of the crowd; targeting those who are weak, hungry, lonely, tired... alone. If we are isolated it's easier to wear us down, feed us lies, and convince us that no one else understands what we are going through.
It's why we are commanded to live our life in community, so that we can admonish and correct and love and support one another. It's why we are supposed to confess our sins to one another, so that we can live in the truth with one another instead of the complicated justifications we make to avoid our own sin and culpability.
I grieve for those who have withdrawn from fellowship with believers and now follow what is right in their own eyes. The reasons and the stories vary but ultimately, they don't want to be told that the thing they are doing, that is meeting their core needs, is wrong. They don't want to give up this thing that God calls sin ...and they call precious.
The enemy encourages this by telling them they are smart, enlightened, empowered. And by this time, many have burnt relational bridges behind them and used scorched-earth tactics to avoid the guilt and shame of their behavior.
I know and care about many who have fallen away some pick fights with me because they fear that I will preach at them or judge them. I guess it's true, I judge that they have made some terrible choices. Those decisions have consequences. I will and I do preach the good news. I have to. In my mind right now I am listing them by name, I do this every time I pray for them. They are in my prayer list, and there are enough of them that they are their own line item for prayer, all grouped together and mentioned by name every time I pray for them. I haven't given up.
Why?
*Because their lack of belief doesn't make God un-true.
*Because HE knows them by name.
*Because HE loves them even more than me and he is faithful and just.
*Because I take refuge in His judgments instead of my own, I must keep praying for them like one does CPR. I cannot write them off and out of my life until death.
*Because He is the great physician, and they aren't dead until they are dead, I will continue to pray until He notes the time in His book of life.
What I haven't done is written them off. I grieve for them. Pray for me to have the right words to draw them back!
What about you? If you have stuck with me on this journey I am on, I will assume that you too have a list of people that used to believe and now do not. Let me encourage you to write their names down. Pray for them regularly and often. The bible says that there is no where we can go that He cannot reach. The Prodigal Son found his way into a pig pen, at rock bottom and penniless . King David committed murder by proxy to keep another woman through adultery. Where are your friends and family that have fallen away? Their story isn't finished yet. HIStory, is still being written and there is still time. Because God can reach them even where they are.
I pray also for you, that you do not give up doing good. Hold the hope for them for a while if they have lost their own. Hope is a powerful thing, and one of the three that remain (1Cor. 13:13). My prayer for you, dear friend, is that the Holy Spirit stoke your hope. May the breath of God breathe new life into your hope and make it burn bright.
I pray it light the way home for those lost in the dark and alone.
Amen.
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