Monday, September 07, 2009

A Lament Over Defection

Do your best to come to me quickly, for Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica.--2 Timothy 4:9-10; emphasis added.

I lament that so many have "loved this world" at the expense of living for Jesus Christ. Instead of keeping their hearts and minds on eternity, and thus being willing to suffer in various ways for the suffering Savior and the good of the world, they have made provisions for the flesh, to gratify its lusts. They found the fleeting fleshpots of postmodernity more appealing than denying themselves, taking up their crosses daily, and following Christ into Kingdom endeavors--come what may. (I am not thinking of those who address their doubts and continue to seek God. That is another story.)

Some are only visiting the spectre world of sin's allures; they will be chastened by God and return to Christ. Others have given themselves over to this present world, having never truly left it to follow the lamb of God in time and eternity.

The Bible warned us of this in advance, but seeing it played out through real people still breaks one's heart.

2 comments:

Mason said...

Amen

Andrew Hay said...

An unfortunate insight from Screwtape:

"And while he [the Patient] thinks that, we do not have to contend with the explicit repentance of a definite, fully recognised, sin, but only with his vague, though uneasy, feeling that he hasn’t been doing very well lately. This dim uneasiness needs careful handling. If it gets too strong it may wake him up and spoil the whole game. On the other hand, if you suppress it entirely – which, by the by, the Enemy [God] will probably not allow you to do – we lose an element in the situation which can be turned to good account. If such a feeling is allowed to live, but not allowed to become irresistible and flower into real repentance, it has one invaluable tendency. It increases the patient’s reluctance to think about the Enemy.”