QUESTION AND ANSWER

Why do Church folk sometimes backslide and even leave the Church?

There may be several reasons for it, but one of the most outstanding is that they first came with the idea that Jesus would take away all their troubles instantly. They thought that He would immediately heal their sicknesses and remove all hardships and difficulties from their lives. Perhaps they were lured into coming to a church service with these promises that got reinforced when preachers pointed out various scripture passages confirming this belief, but without any mention of the cross that Jesus expects us to carry. So when such people wait in expectation for the promised 'bed of roses’ type of life and instead find that after being born again, the thorns seem to be increasing, they disappointedly fall away.

Every word of the Good News is true and we can expect to experience every one of the wonderful promises we find in the Bible. But we often fail to understand that all these great promises have very precise conditions attached to them. For example, Jesus says in Mt. 16:24, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.” Denying ourselves means putting God and His interests before our own personal plans. It means renouncing the control of our lives and everything that boosts our ego, to be subject to the Lordship of Jesus and to live in complete obedience to His will and plan for our lives. This may be a very difficult and painful process as it means moving away from the kind of thinking we were born and brought up in and the system under which the entire world operates. In the world system “I” am the center of all my plans and activities. Therefore, being a disciple of Jesus makes us enemies of the world and may even attract persecution as our Lord and Master Himself was persecuted and brutally killed on a cross.

We are expected to carry our own crosses, the painful situations we may find ourselves in, because of following Jesus. But we should do so with praise and rejoicing, knowing that our present difficult pathway is leading us to eternal life and eternal glory. Jesus says in Mt. 16:26, “For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels and then He will reward each according to his works.” In other words, we will be abundantly rewarded for our faithfulness in remaining with Jesus, carrying out His will and praising and worshipping Him in all circumstances.

If we choose to be friends of the world and what we perceive to be the easier life, we may gain material wealth and worldly acclaim. But as we can easily observe from looking around us, it is just short-lived and the absence of true peace and joy is very evident because the world cannot satisfy our souls. Jesus says in Mt. 16:26, “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” So the choice between following Jesus while carrying our cross and being friends of the “world”, is ultimately a choice between life and death. If we don’t carry our cross and follow Jesus, the cross will carry us! Satan can easily steal the material wealth that is not used for the Kingdom of God, through the torture of mental stress, sicknesses and other calamities. But the peace, joy and health that Jesus gives to His followers are treasures stored up in Heaven that can never be destroyed.

In John 16:33, Jesus says, “In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” Praise the Lord!