Wheat & Chaff

After a conversation from last night, I've been kind of wondering along an interesting line. In America, we are so greatly blessed to be able to worship freely and tell people about our faith without fear of persecution. That truly is a blessing, but I've been kind of looking at things from the other side of the coin recently.

The other side is this: people who are not genuine believers are all over our churces. That isn't necessarily a bad thing, as they are being exposed to the gospel and the Body of Christ, which hopefully will lead some to Christ. But, this culture gives people the impression that going to church, being raised by Christian parents, or assenting in your head to certain facts about Christianity means that you're saved. Sadly, for some folks, this couldn't be further from the truth. This always reminds me of the parable of the narrow door: people will tell Jesus that they did things in His name (went to church, tithed, tried to live a holy life, etc.) and He'll say that He never knew them. So, my point is this, in countries where persecution does exist, it's a whole lot easier to see who's genuine and who is not. A non-believer isn't going to go to church if he knows he's putting his life on the line.

So, what I've been wondering some lately is how do we tell within this country where persecution doesn't weed people out? Ultimately, we can't know someone else's heart, so we can't fully decipher where someone stands. But, there are some instances where we need to have some idea. We certainly don't want to allow non-believers to take membership vows in a church or especially become leaders in a church. There are of course even ordained pastors who are not yet born again.

So, with this in mind, I was rereading Desiring God by John Piper (side note: a great book that you should read and I do apologize in advance for all the times I'll be quoting this in coming days on this blog). Piper makes an interesting statement that may answer my question. He says: "no one is a Christian who does not embrace Jesus gladly as his most valued tresasure, and then pursue the fullness of that joy in Christ that honors Him."

I think this statement does help to shed some good light on this question. In order for someone to be born again, God has to first act in their heart and cause them to desire Him. We can't one day decide that we desire God more than the sinful life we've been living; it must come about as a gift from God (John 6:44, Ephesians 2:8-9). So, to some degree, treasuring or desiring Christ is a key component of coming to faith.

So, now on to the difficult question: How do we tell from the outside? On a daily basis, it's hard to tell. But, I would say that over time, someone's life will show what their real treasure is. If it's God, they will be willing to sacrifice all else for Him. Conversely, if it's money (or a relationship, job, status, or anything else), they're willing to sacrifice their faith for that. Trials also do a good job at proving faith. One who endures a difficult trial and maintains faith shows himself to be of faith (look at Job). Or, one who abandons the faith as soon as hard times come shows himself to have not been a believer in the first place.

Do believers sin? Absolutely. Should sinning (or even going through a difficult time where we may be in a pattern of sin) cause us to question or faith? No Way! It should cause us to hold on to the promise that our sin won't cause God to love us any less and to be thankful that we're forgiven of that sin and move forward.

So to summarize: a believer's life overall should be that of an incurable God-lover. Our lives should show Christ as our ultimate treasure and desire. Of course, I know there have been times in my life when I have allowed other things to take this spot. But, these incidents don't disqualify us or show our faith to be not genuine. It's the overall pattern of our lives, viewed from a wide angle lens. We may have days, weeks, months (or even years) when we feel like we're losing to some sin. But, we don't lose heart, we forget what is behind, keep pressing on and trusting in God's promises.

I'm speaking on the issue of sin Thursday night, so I'll probably be posting some more thoughts on battling sin later this week. Until then, stay strong and don't lose heart.

-JRO