James 1:13-18, 22-25
13 When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14 but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
16 Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. 17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. 18 He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.
22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.
Last time I talked about some reasons we "lose our faith" and especially as it pertains to youth. I put "lose your faith" in quotations because I believe that if you are truly born again, you will persevere. I think the Bible teaches that and that is a blog for another day, but it is certainly true that as John said,
"They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us." 1John 2:19
Last time we said that people leave because of trials - favorable circumstances going away, and because of lack of wisdom - not understanding God, the Bible, suffering, science and the Bible, etc. Here are 2 links you could follow to see real life examples of this;
Michael Gungor https://www.christianpost.com/news/gungor-i-dont-believe-in-god-anymore-227508/
Charles Templeton https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justin-taylor/charles-templeton-missing-jesus/
The third reason is found in the next passage of James - Our sin nature is just so strong and Satan knows which fishing lures we will bite on, and he dangles them in front of us until we decide to sin. In order to justify it, we say, "Well, that part of the Bible isn't relevant to today" or "You can't believe the Bible anyway because science has disproven it" or "What kind of God puts those desires in you and says no?" Whenever I hear of youth, especially college students doubting the veracity of the Bible, I know what's up - they want to have sex. Sure, trials and lack of wisdom can lead to falling away, but usually the impetus is people want to sin and the Bible won't let them. Trials and lack of wisdom I feel lead more often to the double-minded person. It's sort of like my theory on divorce. People will live in a bad marriage until another option comes along. People will put up with a half-hearted marriage until another lover is waiting in the wings. Then they have to choose. People will "put up" with Christianity until an offer comes along that they can't refuse.
My dad started a church with a physician named Bob many years ago. Some years later, Bob left his wife and kids for a nurse in his office and left the faith. When my dad went to talk with him he told my dad, "I can't believe I wasted all those good years of my life following God." You see, he didn't have a trial or an intellectual problem with Christianity - he had a desire to sin that was incompatible with following Christ so he chose the sin.
This is the ploy Satan used in the garden and he still uses it today. "God is withholding something from you. He doesn't want you to be free. Did God really say...?" How do we combat that? The same way we do trials and lack of wisdom. A relationship with God, a love relationship with God says, "Yes those things look attractive, but knowing God, He wouldn't deny me of that unless He had good reason. I choose to believe Him." Every good and perfect gift comes from above. Do you trust God enough to say like James did that His law gives freedom and is perfect even though at times it seems restrictive? You see, it is a lot easier to give up on a set of beliefs if sin looks irresistible, than to give up on a person who you love and trust.
If you want more on this, go to this Andy Stanley message and start at the 25 minute mark.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6TegeZpmEY
Last time I talked about some reasons we "lose our faith" and especially as it pertains to youth. I put "lose your faith" in quotations because I believe that if you are truly born again, you will persevere. I think the Bible teaches that and that is a blog for another day, but it is certainly true that as John said,
"They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us." 1John 2:19
Last time we said that people leave because of trials - favorable circumstances going away, and because of lack of wisdom - not understanding God, the Bible, suffering, science and the Bible, etc. Here are 2 links you could follow to see real life examples of this;
Michael Gungor https://www.christianpost.com/news/gungor-i-dont-believe-in-god-anymore-227508/
Charles Templeton https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justin-taylor/charles-templeton-missing-jesus/
The third reason is found in the next passage of James - Our sin nature is just so strong and Satan knows which fishing lures we will bite on, and he dangles them in front of us until we decide to sin. In order to justify it, we say, "Well, that part of the Bible isn't relevant to today" or "You can't believe the Bible anyway because science has disproven it" or "What kind of God puts those desires in you and says no?" Whenever I hear of youth, especially college students doubting the veracity of the Bible, I know what's up - they want to have sex. Sure, trials and lack of wisdom can lead to falling away, but usually the impetus is people want to sin and the Bible won't let them. Trials and lack of wisdom I feel lead more often to the double-minded person. It's sort of like my theory on divorce. People will live in a bad marriage until another option comes along. People will put up with a half-hearted marriage until another lover is waiting in the wings. Then they have to choose. People will "put up" with Christianity until an offer comes along that they can't refuse.
My dad started a church with a physician named Bob many years ago. Some years later, Bob left his wife and kids for a nurse in his office and left the faith. When my dad went to talk with him he told my dad, "I can't believe I wasted all those good years of my life following God." You see, he didn't have a trial or an intellectual problem with Christianity - he had a desire to sin that was incompatible with following Christ so he chose the sin.
This is the ploy Satan used in the garden and he still uses it today. "God is withholding something from you. He doesn't want you to be free. Did God really say...?" How do we combat that? The same way we do trials and lack of wisdom. A relationship with God, a love relationship with God says, "Yes those things look attractive, but knowing God, He wouldn't deny me of that unless He had good reason. I choose to believe Him." Every good and perfect gift comes from above. Do you trust God enough to say like James did that His law gives freedom and is perfect even though at times it seems restrictive? You see, it is a lot easier to give up on a set of beliefs if sin looks irresistible, than to give up on a person who you love and trust.
If you want more on this, go to this Andy Stanley message and start at the 25 minute mark.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6TegeZpmEY
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