Monday, April 17, 2023

Anonymous Asks (245)

“Can a believer be content to live a worldly life?”

There’s probably a “no true Scotsman”-type answer to questions like this one, where you simply say, “No, because anyone who is content to live a worldly life cannot possibly be a genuine believer.” I might have used that one once or twice myself.

That answers the question, but I’m not sure it’s really sufficient. My experience is otherwise.

Abandoning the Faith

Let’s qualify that a bit. It’s perfectly true that “If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” But I don’t know that we can assume every person who seems to us to be behaving in a worldly manner is in love with the world. We can’t see their hearts or know the reasons they are doing what they are doing. So I think a believer can live a worldly lifestyle in relative contentment. For a while. What I’m sure of is that if they are really a believer, the contentment will not last.

I’ve seen lots of people abandon the faith over the years. Usually they don’t make big announcements about it. They don’t repudiate what they say they once believed. They don’t suddenly start acting wickedly. They don’t go on TV and say nasty things about evangelicals and fundamentalists, or start blogs collecting “proofs” the Bible is full of lies. They don’t deliberately cut Christians out of their lives or refuse to have anything to do with us. Many of them don’t even say they have stopped believing, and some would affirm they still do.

Despite that, they drift away. One day they are a fixture in the local church, the next they are gone. Sometimes it’s a process that takes months, where you just see less and less of them until you realize this is not just a phase of life they are going through but rather the new normal for them. More often than not, it’s because of a romantic relationship with an unsaved person they just can’t bring themselves to give up. They know taking the relationship further will not be acceptable to their fellow believers, and they realize it’s got to be one or the other, so they choose the romance and quietly jettison the regular association with the Christians in their lives and the habit of going to church.

And then they just carry on with life. Other than the fact that they no longer attend church, nothing about them is really all that distinguishable from an immature Christian. Usually, their neighbors think them exceptionally decent people, which may explain why they were attracted to Christianity in the first place.

Since We’re Talking About Stories …

Are all these people actually unsaved? I think some are and some are not. You really have to wait for the end of the story to know, and in this life, stories end abruptly, take sudden swerves in an unexpected direction, or go on long enough that you don’t get to observe the final chapters.

One young man I know professed salvation, then essentially went into sleep mode for more than twenty years. He was always amiable and friendly, but in church he was a pew sitter, not a participant. When it became convenient for him to stop attending church or too difficult to find one in his travels, he just stopped going. When anyone challenged him on what he was up to, he deflected with good humor and never really answered the question. His life was neither sinless nor particularly sinful, it was simply occupied with other things: work, friends, sports, TV and good books. Then one day in his twenties, he relocated because of a job loss and absolutely caught fire for the Lord. It’s not that he got saved. I think he would tell you he was always saved. But whatever obstacle stood in the way of his growth in Christ was removed, and he never turned back. Who can explain that? I’m not sure even he can. But the Lord knows.

Another young fellow I knew was going along really well for years. He was preaching regularly in his local church, serving the Lord, talking the talk and walking the walk. Then he went away to school and never came back. You know the story: the unsaved girl. By the time any of his friends knew, he was already locked into the relationship and could not be persuaded to let it go. He married her and drifted away. He has been in that condition for something like 35 years now, and I am still convinced he’s saved. How do I know? He’s riddled with guilt. You can tell from a mile away that he regrets at least some of his life choices. To this day, any Christian he knew back in the day can call on him for help and he’s right there. He values those old friends even if he doesn’t hang out with them any more, and you can tell he respects them more than his current friends and peers. So is he saved? Only the Lord knows. I am sure he himself has lost all confidence in his salvation at this point. But his story is not over yet.

Looking Back

Then there are the worldly Christians who don’t leave the church. John has to urge believers to “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.” He obviously felt that some of his readers could potentially succumb to that temptation. I won’t say all such believers are obvious. Some may be quite active in service. But there is something different about them. They are not enjoying the Christian life the way others are, and eventually their true condition makes itself evident.

The truth is that no one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God. But who among us is? Yes, a Christian can live a worldly life, but he cannot live a content one. No matter how they may put on a brave face, worldly Christians are reliably miserable, and it only gets worse with time.

I say wait for the end of the story. Too often, there is a swerve coming.

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