Key verse: Hebrews 3:12
Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.
2Timothy 4:10
It is a very delicate thing to live life through without accepting the sacrifice of Christ for our sin to entitle us to experience heaven on earth. It is however worse to begin with Christ as one’s Lord and Savior and then forsake Him to hold on to another belief. A person who had no opportunity to decide for Christ while alive, may be judged based on His ignorance if God so decides. But a person who already had been led to Christ and subsequently turns away from Him will have difficulty receiving pardon.
There are many ways by which a believer can depart from the Lord and the major one is unbelief. Doubting the Lord as to His capabilities is unbelief and therefore a departure. It is indeed calling God a liar just as failing to obey the commands of God. When we refuse to obey God’s commands, it is for particular reasons that border around lack of courage. Some others depart from God when they try to arm-twist the Lord to get something done that is against the direct purpose of God. They forget that the Author of life has His master plan that had been crafted from the foundation of the earth. Yet they want to use their myopic thoughts and feelings to alter the same. Assuming Ananias had failed to minister to Saul of Tarsus all because he knew the said Saul to be wicked? Then would you and I not had the benefit of hearing of an Apostle Paul whose works still minister till date.
The enemy knows that all the issues of life emanate from the heart and therefore seeks to mess up our hearts so that we may yield to evil rather than sticking with righteousness that comes from the Lord. It is our duty to ensure we do not yield our hearts to the devil to fulfill his enterprise. Let us be careful to submit ourselves completely unto the Lord, so that, resisting the devil, he flees from us and we are able to guard our hearts from evil. It is terribly evil to contemplate leaving the work of God when it is genuinely so. It would have been evil on the part of the Church if they failed to separate Paul and Barnabas unto the work the Holy Spirit requested them for. If you discover you have departed from God by any of these actions, you can quickly return to Him today. He will gladly receive you.
Pray: Father, forgive me in any way I may have departed from you through my unbelief. Help me to be courageous enough to believe you through and through in Jesus name.
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