"For if they had belonged to us, they would have
remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to
us." 1 John 2:9 NIV
Dear Friends!
The hour is already here. People have already denied the truth once they held close to their hearts. They
have left the Christians community in the sense that they became apostates,
denying the most fundamental aspect of the Christian faith - namely that Jesus
is the Christ, the Son of God.
In this age of Science™,
where nothing seems impossible for men to achieve, people have started to
put their faith in such things. It is not only the spiritually weak; but also even the
ones who once appeared to be spiritually strong have fallen for such a thing. You name it religious pastors, evangelists, church workers, and worship leaders etc. They were once ''committed'' and I am
using this word very carefully. However, after years of their journey with the Lord, in times of distress and hardships, they look up and say "Who
is God™?" and say "there is no such a thing as God™".
I just want to ask ourselves
whether circumstances and situations determine our faith in God. Before anything of these happened, we were very strong and committed believers. We preach about God from the Word of God. We stood in front of people saying all the good and marvelous things about God. Yeah! Those were the good times. And our spirits were lifted up as though we were soaring on eagle's wings. I bet we all sang about it! I guess in our conscience, we were literally singing Bryan Adams' "Summer of '69"...those were the best days of my life...! We thought we gave our everything to God...our life, our time, our strength, our service...remember us singing "I give all my service to you!" Don't you think those were the highly-spirited times? Emotionally carried away to the very word 'Jesus', shouting numberless Amen and Hallelujahs! We didn't realized that those moments weren't for everlasting.... All these things gradually starts to unfold as we sit in the epicenter of our problems, and as we battle between them, we slowly begin to question God's existence.
When some serious situations
crop up, our beliefs, and faith in God are shattered. This happens if our faith is not well grounded in God. We start to think that we are all on our
own, and God is nowhere near us. The problems overshadow us and keep us
away from knowing that He is with us even at that time. It's just that we are not allowing Him to take over. We begin to doubt in God and
His Grace.
Once a person is a genuine
Christian, they will inevitably continue to remain so.
This is not simply saying
"Once saved, Always saved", though that can be logically inferred.
This is saying, "Once saved, it is inevitable that such a person will
remain in the faith identifying with the Christian community". (Moreover,
as such, once saved, always saved, and seeing, as the saved never depart from
the faith).
How did John know that
"they did not really belong to us?” It is because they left the Christian
community. Thus if a person departs from the faith, such is indicative that
they had never really been of the faith to begin with.
Then, here is the reassuring
word to the faithful among us. 1 John 2:20, 21, says, “But you have an anointing from the
Holy One, and you know all things. I have not written to you because you do not
know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth.”
Everyone born of God has been
anointed with the Holy Spirit. In fact, "if anyone does not have the
Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ" as it is written in Rom 8:9. That is why John
can make such a general statement. John elaborates upon this in 1 John 2 verse
27 “But the anointing which you have received at a point in time from Him
dwells continuously in you, and you don't characteristically need that anyone
be teaching you; but as the same anointing characteristically teaches you
concerning all things.”
One work of the Holy Spirit is guidance into the truth.
Jesus said, "When he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into
all truth" in John 16:13.
Therefore, I urge all of us
that wherever we are, let us remain faithful to Him in whatever circumstances
or situations we may be. Let us remember that, once we move out from Christ's flock,
we will be considered as goats, dwelling among His flock in a sheepskin!
Thus,
when those born of God hear the truth, the Spirit confirms it in our
conscience. We embrace truth as a sheep listens to the voice of its shepherd,
as Jesus said, "My sheep listen to my voice." John 10:27. Let us be
strong willed and not let evil enter into our mind. Let us continue to have
steadfast fellowship with the Lord. Moreover, He will keep us safe.
God be with
us all!
