“Through the power of the Holy Spirit who lives within us, carefully guard the precious truth that has been entrusted to you. As you know, everyone from the province of Asia has deserted me – even Phygelus and Hermogenes.” (2 Timothy 1:14-15 NLT)
Guarding truth is a moment-by-moment decision. Too often what is “truth” in one moment can quickly become something else the next. That people are fickle and change their mind and redirect their lives over almost anything is not in question. What IS in question, at least for me, is what are the spiritual implications for those who profess a relationship with Jesus, then turn their backs on Him?
The doctrine known as “eternal security” is often tied to the expression “once saved always saved,” but I don’t see them as one and the same. My security in Jesus is tied to my relationship with Him, my moment-by-moment intimacy with Him. Yes, of course, over the years that intimacy has “ebbed and flowed,” but the security of my relationship has never been in jeopardy.
That’s why I say I believe in eternal security for believers. What I don’t believe is that someone who professes faith, but lives like the devil, has “eternal” security. As I said in another article, there is no security for an unbeliever regardless of what they profess. So, the question with which we wrestle is: “Can a person have a genuine walk with God, then walk away? And, if so, will they still go to heaven?”
In the Hebrews 6 passage we looked at a few days ago, the author was very clear when he wrote: “For it is impossible to bring back to repentance those who were once enlightened – those who have experienced the good things of heaven and shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the power of the age to come – and who then turn away from God.”
In the other post I sought to be true to the context and I don’t want to try to make the Bible say something it doesn’t say, but the fact remains, godly people lose their way and leave God and the faith. Yes, of course, God doesn’t leave them, but the question remains, do they lose heaven in that decision? My sense is that they do? But why?
Free will is the issue upon which my decision hinges. Will the Lord require and insist that someone who has clearly made their will known by walking away from Him, the Church, and everything that even hints of holiness and right living, go to heaven when they die? Why would they even want to?
There’s a young woman with whom I’ve communicated over the months, who told me she walked with the Lord for “more than 30 years,” but who abandoned her faith and has no expectation or desire to “go to heaven.” She no longer believes there is a God, let alone a heaven. Will the Lord make her go to heaven? Not in any stretch of my understanding of Him or His Word!
He gives us freedom to choose and freedom to live with the consequences of those choices. To live with and for Him is to choose heaven, but to walk away from Him is to choose hell. That is why I persist in lifting my “prodigal” loved ones to my Father. Can they be forgiven and restored if they return to Him? Absolutely! What about Hebrews 6:4? That was a specific context to which most of our prodigals do not apply. But even if they did, I wouldn’t stop praying because ultimately, it’s God’s choice who will be in heaven, not mine…not yours!
Food for thought.
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 