Before doing this study, I encourage you to read the one-minute Bible Love Note titled Can We Bear Watching a Loved One Reject the Lord? It is a fitting intro to this true story and Bible study. This situation did not involve one of my closest loved ones, but it still deeply troubled me. And I believe it offers some helpful insights.
Note: Because this woman has cut off contact with me I doubt very much that she would read this study. But I have not used her real name nor have I added specifics which could identify her.
Sold Out to God
“Susan” was a new Christian and a Bible Love Notes reader who got in touch with me several years ago. Because I was visiting her city, she arranged to meet me. Boy, was I impressed.
She'd been living with her boyfriend and her family and friends fully accepted and approved of this. But when she became a Christian, she was convicted that sex before marriage wasn't pleasing to the Lord, so she moved to her own apartment. Furthermore, she wasn't comfortable in her previous relationship because her boyfriend didn't share her faith, and she knew that was biblically important.
She was serious about living according to God's Word and she understood that His commands are loving.
No matter how long I’ve been a Christian, a new believer is always a delight for me. They remind me of the life-change Christ brought into my life... the joy, the commitment, and the comfort.
Susan had lots of questions for me. She wanted to honor God and she was willing to sacrifice things in order to do it. We friended on Facebook and kept in touch.
It was such a blessing to see her constantly “transforming” through the power of God’s Spirit, and I enjoyed meeting with her on my annual visits to her city.
But the third year I visited, something about her was different.
Halfhearted Devotion
When we met, she told me that she’d decided her former boyfriend was a Christian, so they were seeing each other again and probably would marry. I told her that they must be very careful not to get sexually involved again until they were married, and she seemed to agree.
She also told me that she was no longer attending her Bible study and prayer group at the college she attended because she felt they were too legalistic. I told her that it was important to have fellowship with Bible-believing Christians and I encouraged her to find a group where she was comfortable.
As you can imagine, things didn't feel the same, and my prayers for her changed direction. I was no longer dealing with a sold-out Christian. And I noticed that she was initiating contact with me less and less.
The following year when we met, she brought her boyfriend, a nice young man, but the only mention of God in our conversations was on my part.
Back to Her Former Life
The following year when my husband and I met with her and her boyfriend again, she told me they were living together, and they saw no problem with that since they were going to be married. She knew what the Bible taught, and on her own she'd been convicted that it was wrong, but she was becoming braver in her rejection of God's principles.
I gave her boyfriend a copy of Mere Christianity, and my prayers for her changed even more. She certainly didn’t resemble the woman whose faith inspired me a few years earlier.
After that meeting, I was the only one who initiated contact. Then Covid hit and my husband and I were unable to return to her city for several years.
Sold Out to Satan
Then one day when I messaged her on Facebook, I realized she’d unfriended me. It was apparent why. Her page was filled with pro-LGBTQ and pro-abortion information, and she still wasn’t married.
I don't want to get into a Calvinist - Non-Calvinist debate. The Calvinist would say Susan was never saved. The non-Calvinist would say she lost her salvation. Either way, she was no longer serving the Lord, and she was fully aware that she was rejecting Him. That is the only reason she would cut me off. We hadn't had an argument or exchanged an unkind word.
We’d love it if all of our stories had happy endings, but as sin increases in our world, we're also going to see some of these sad stories.
When we genuinely understand the love and redemption of Christ, we can’t imagine someone rejecting the gospel.
So let’s look at what things contribute to people walking away from their faith:
Susan moved away from God one step at a time. At any point she could have caught herself and gotten back on the narrow path. 
1. They never were genuinely committed in the first place.
This didn't appear to be true of Susan. Her new faith was pro-active and sacrificial and she stuck with it for several years. I believe she fully understood the gospel.
But some people only appear to become Christians. Their faith is all about words.
"For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power." 1 Corinthians 4:20
2. They ignore the warnings.
Please read James 1. It talks about the testing of our faith and clearly explains that people who know God's Word can still reject it. That's why this command is so important: "Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says" (verse 22).
3. Temptation wins.
This is the most obvious reason some people choose the wide highway instead of the narrow path. The decide something sinful is more important than their faith. And very often the sin which wins is a sexual one.
Please read 1 Corinthians 10. It's a chapter which tells us how blessed God's people were in Old Testament times, seeing so many miracles and experiencing deliverance from their enemies. But they turned away from God. Their stories are meant to help us "as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did" (verse 6). Their temptations included idolatry, sexual immorality, grumbling against God, and testing God.
"So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it." (verses 12-13).
copyright 2024, Gail Burton Purath, BiteSizeBibleStudy.com
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