All it would take
We are not so different, even though we are not the same people. Although we are not from the same heritage, we are similar. People are People—Everywhere. So, the question becomes: Can we learn from those who came before us, who lived differently than us, and is it possible to not face similar consequences for our unbelief?
Maybe you are reading and wonder: Who are the people? & What did those people not believe? & How bad were the consequences they faced?
In the Bible, we read the answers to these questions.
“Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil,
(The Letter to the Hebrews 3: 12 NASB)
unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God.”
- God—promises kept to redeem, to save those who believe in Him.
- Brethren—fellow believers in the work of Jesus on the cross and in the grave.
- An unbelieving heart—a person who once believed but now lives and proclaims with his life that he no longer believes in God.
- The Living God—promises to bring home to eternal rest with Him those who believe to the end.
Of late, I have been deep into a study focused on my teaching practices, asking the question: Does my curriculum intentionally point individuals to see Jesus? As we meet to discuss the writing found within the text and to share how we find this applicable to us, I find myself asking: Does it? Are my students pointed to the truth of Jesus while they study the curriculum of composition and literature?
Like me, you might find yourself surrounded daily by unbelievers, and they seem to outnumber the other group: the believers. Maybe, you too ask: How can they not believe? Then, maybe, like me, you also know individuals like these: People, who for reasons unknown, who once believed in and walked with God but who now do not. Instead, they choose to not believe. They seem to have turned their backs on the living God. Yes, maybe, you too ask: How can they not believe? & How can someone walk away from believing in the promises of God?
To help us better understand how this could even be possible, to answer our questions, like always, we must return to God’s Holy Word.
“But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,”
(The Letter to the Hebrews 3: 13-19 & 4: 1 NASB)
so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
For we have become partakers of Christ,
if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end,
while it is said,
“TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE,
DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS,
AS WHEN THEY PROVOKED ME.”
“For who provoked Him when they had heard?
Indeed, did not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses?
And with whom was He angry for forty years?
Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?
And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest,
but to those who were disobedient?
So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief.
Therefore, let us fear if,
while a promise remains of entering His rest,
any one of you may seem to have come short of it.”
Despite all the miraculous way Father God saved them, the children of Israel proclaimed their unbelief. He led them out of captivity and across the Red Sea. When they were hungry, God fed them with bread from heaven and sent quail to sustain them. When they were so close to stepping into the Promised Land, the children of God stopped believing. We may scratch our heads, asking: How could someone walk away from believing in the promises of God? After so many miraculous provisions, how could these chosen people turn their backs on the One who saved them?
Then, the truth of God settled on me. Even today, we too are not so far removed. The writer of The Letter to the Hebrews is speaking even to us, to you and to me. We may think, unbelief is not possible, but could it be?
- What might cause a person to not believe as he once did?
- What may lead someone to disobey God, to turn his back on the One who saved his soul?
- What life event might make one’s heart harden when it once did not? &
- Would there be consequences of a person’s sudden unbelief?
In connection to the conversation the group of educators are discussing together, as we try to discern whether our classrooms and curriculum point our students to see Jesus, I found myself asking: Is my belief in Jesus as sure, as unwavering as it should be? & What life situation might pull me toward unbelief?
Truly, these are thought-provoking questions we each need to ask ourselves. There is a melody that speaks the truth we need to remember as we seek to keep our focus on our Savior and Lord. Please pause and listen to Cory Asbury sing “How Could I Not Believe.”
Unfortunately, there are doubters who once walked with God as His saints. There are also redeemed ones who once believed but who have now walked away from their faith.
Lost ones remain, those who have never believed, who have never known the sweet relief of believing in the Savior. So, we question: Lord, what would it take for each of these?
- All it would take for the doubters (who were once saints) is for them to return to Jesus. &
- All it would take for the redeemed ones (who walked away from their faith) is for them to turn & repent.
And Lord, what about the lost ones, what would it take for them?
- All it would take for lost ones (who never believed) is for them to turn to Jesus in belief. &
- All it would take for those (who have never trusted the sweet salvation Jesus brings) is for them to BELIEVE JESUS at HIS WORD.
All it would take is for us to see!
We see Jesus everywhere we go, wherever we find ourselves inside our days. Even in the most unexpected places, we find Jesus also there. Yes, inside our classrooms, in our kitchens, and in our vehicles as we drive down the streets, we see Jesus everywhere we look. In the people we encounter, in their needs and in their situations, we are able to encounter Jesus in all places. Therefore, we must not stop praying, interceding for those who have fallen away and for those who have never believed. Let us pause from all our going and look for HIM in the faces we meet. It is there, wherever we are in that moment. In the people we encounter today, right in front of us—JESUS exists & JESUS saves!