Falling Away
" Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons" I Timothy 4:1
It seems like I've heard people talk about the great "falling away" of believers for a really long time, at least since my teenage years when I began to understand what that meant. The Lord has really laid this upon my heart. My dad is a retired pastor and we've had discussions about the "falling away" many times. It's a time when even believers will turn away from the Truth and it's a sign of the end times. In the past few years I've heard more and more people say we are in the midst of the "falling away." I've really been thinking about that lately, I don't disagree that we could be in the midst of it...it's just that I feel like believers in the church are using it as an excuse to stop ministering to people. I've seen many churches put an end to certain ministries because there was no interest from the community. Did Jesus stop ministering to people when people didn't listen? Should we stop pouring our hearts out to the lost and fallen away because we might be in the midst of the Great Falling Away? I've never read in the Bible where the Lord says to only minister to people when it's easy. Jesus suffered and died a horrible death for me and for you and everyone. Do we just stop sharing His love when we feel like no one is going to listen anyway? The Lord has shown me lately that we don't give up on people because He doesn't give up on them. We press on because He carried that cross all the way to Calvary and He was still ministering to the lost while He was dying on the cross. There is no excuse that can hold up to that act of love.
It seems like I've heard people talk about the great "falling away" of believers for a really long time, at least since my teenage years when I began to understand what that meant. The Lord has really laid this upon my heart. My dad is a retired pastor and we've had discussions about the "falling away" many times. It's a time when even believers will turn away from the Truth and it's a sign of the end times. In the past few years I've heard more and more people say we are in the midst of the "falling away." I've really been thinking about that lately, I don't disagree that we could be in the midst of it...it's just that I feel like believers in the church are using it as an excuse to stop ministering to people. I've seen many churches put an end to certain ministries because there was no interest from the community. Did Jesus stop ministering to people when people didn't listen? Should we stop pouring our hearts out to the lost and fallen away because we might be in the midst of the Great Falling Away? I've never read in the Bible where the Lord says to only minister to people when it's easy. Jesus suffered and died a horrible death for me and for you and everyone. Do we just stop sharing His love when we feel like no one is going to listen anyway? The Lord has shown me lately that we don't give up on people because He doesn't give up on them. We press on because He carried that cross all the way to Calvary and He was still ministering to the lost while He was dying on the cross. There is no excuse that can hold up to that act of love.
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