Persevering in the Faith

 As a child I can recall security, comfort, inspiration, fellowship, support, confidence, and many more wonderful benefits of growing up as part of a church. Churches are more than just a building that a body of people assemble in once a week. The Church of Christ is a group of like believers that can accomplish more together than as separate individuals. A church is much like a team where people of different skills and gifts come together to do amazing things. Like in a team the individual often will obtain more for himself and his family than he could ever hope for going it alone. There are certain vulnerabilities that a church body helps an individual avoid in their walk of faith with God. I encourage anyone who is not currently part of a Bible teaching church to consider hard in finding one. 

 There are two main reasons that someone might find themselves walking away from their church. Following others out of the church and feeling unfulfilled in the church. 

 Following friends and family out of the church. Often one will come to a church with a greater group of people and a part of that group will later decide to move on and will put a great deal of pressure on all of the original members to leave with them. One could be raised in a church from their youth and as an adult their parents or siblings decide to find a different venue and will expect you to support and follow in their decision. This kind of pressure can be very strong and make one feel very guilty for not sticking together with family. Although family is very important one must be reminded that when it comes to our service to God that family should not be an excuse to walk away from God's precious truth. I'm reminded of the verse when Jesus asked and answered the question,”Who is my mother and who is my brethren? …. For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven.”(Matt.12:48,50). When friends and family struggle with their walk with God we should show the utmost respect, but we should never surrender our walk with God. 

 Following our Children! Other family members may place guilt on one's heart to follow them but children work with the tool of fear. When an adult child decided to walk away from his faith and church he often places fear into the heart of the parent that their relationship with the child will end if they don't adhere to the child's new direction in life. This fear in the parents is many times fueled by the misconception that it is the parent's responsibility to fix all their child's problems and to make them happy. In Ephesians 6:1-4 God gives some basic guidelines for parent-child relationships. For the children of any age we see, “Children obey your parents in the Lord” and “Honor thy father and mother.” So we see here that it is the duty of the children to honor and obey parents as long as the parent's requests are “in the Lord” or adjacent with the will of God. And the duty of the parents is to “Provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” Parents are not to make unjust or unrealistic request of their children so as not to provoke them to anger, and they are to raise their children in an environment that promotes a relationship with God and His truth. Parents are not called to chase after every whim of their adult children but to let their children ultimately be responsible for their own choices. Parents may feel that they failed their children in some way and need to fix that. If that is true then repair it by acknowledging to them you made a mistake and are working to do better in the future. You don't fix it by openly encouraging their mistakes and making those mistakes part of your own life. If you have several children and they all take a different path in their religious walk, then you will have to water down all that you believe to accommodate each and everyone of their beliefs. You will then have no solidified material left for your own beliefs. I assure you this is a tool forged by Satan. We mustn't let ourselves walk this path of destruction for both parents and children's sake. The healthiest thing a parent can do is draw a line in the sand and say “despite my mistakes I will stand for the truth” and patiently wait and pray for the return of the wayward child. As we can see in the story of the Prodigal Son, had the father went chasing after his son's lifestyle, who would the Prodigal son return to? If parents don't stand their ground, there will be no one for the children to return home to when the Holy Spirit moves in the hearts of our lost children. 

 Then we have following the world out of the church. Christians many times have the attitude of going along to get along. This may seem simple enough but it can be a destructive doorway for many church goers worldwide. The world seems to offer many wonderful things but they all come with a price tag. Don't be seduced by the world, it is temporary and without any eternal reward. We are called to separate from the world because God and the world only work together when the proper boundaries are in place. An individual that is vested in the world will be temped to walk right out of his faith and church. Christians that don’t prioritize their life are especially vulnerable. We must interact with the world in some ways, such as employment, shopping, etc. but the day will come when these worldly schedules will conflict with the church and God's schedule. If we don't make a decision about what is most important to us then the world will always win. 

 Accountability is the one constant in any church. No matter what church you belong to there will always be someone there to tell you what you are doing wrong. This can be one of the greatest blessings a church has to offer with the right heart attitude but it can be a hard pill for many to swallow. It is difficult enough when we are held accountable for our actions but what may be harder than that is watching friends and love ones go through it. Christians are vulnerable to walking away from their faith through third-party offenses. Many will and have walked away out of sympathy for others and the hardest of all, when our children are called on the carpet for their actions. 

 Spiritual apathy is a large reason why many are feeling unfulfilled in their church. Spiritual apathy is not something that just happens out of nowhere but it is something that occurs over time. When we fail to meet the spiritual needs in our life through daily Bible reading and studying, regular church attendance, and a solid prayer life our spirit becomes malnourished and sick. When we begin to notice this empty feeling in our life we often times try to fill it with things of the world like a hobby or a career. This only takes us further away from the solution and further away from the church. 

 Personal laziness or lack of personal discipline can set up poor habits and patterns that can pull us away from our church life. These poor habits will eventually lead to guilt and resentment toward oneself. This resentment will manifest itself as deflecting which will project guilt onto others and make them the focus of our anger. In short, our guilt for poor church discipline will make all gestures of kindness from others look like judgment in our eyes. This will be a powerful tool for Satan to drive us away. 

 How then do we become a more persevering Christian? First it is important to understand there are two types of people in the church. There are those who have come to the church with great sacrifice, and those who were raised in the church from a child. Both have unique areas of difficulty and vulnerabilities. But there are things that can be done to be more successful in our trials from the previous exposures mentioned in this article. 

 First let's look at members of the church that have come from the outside with much investment and sacrifice. Initially one needs to shed the old life and fully embrace the new one. This often is difficult because our old ways are like habits that we have become very comfortable with, and we don’t want to fully let go of. The story of the Israel in Exodus 32, shows the danger of holding onto the old ways. Israel resorted right back to their heathen practices of Egypt when they thought Moses had died on mount Sinai because they had not fully committed to the new gift that God had given them. When the first sign of trouble came they let go of their grip on the new and better and fell back to the old ways they resented so much. Why? Because they didn't fully let go of the old and didn't go all in on the new. 

 Once an individual is all in then there is the investment process. This is vital from the perspective that what we invest in the most is what becomes most valuable. Like parents that struggle to let go of there adult children even when it is healthy and right. That same principle can play out with the church. Like a parent when we work for our church, when we pray for our church, when we spend time with our church; then we will love and adore our church. Just like a parent loves and adores their child despite all the child's imperfections. 

 Some very important areas we can become invested are getting involved with church activities. If there is something scheduled at your church and you have no pressing appointments, then go to the activity. 

 Participate in the church service. If there is singing, sing. If there is praying, pray. Invest in the sermon, share the sermon, try to apply the sermon in your upcoming week. Have you ever noticed that the people that get the most out of any situation are the ones that are fully engaged in whatever the activity is. A baseball game will never be all it can be to you if you just play get by, but when you give your all and participate then and only then does the game come alive and hold any value to you. 

 Get involved in peoples lives. The church will always be full of people that can benefit from something you have to offer. Whether it be of comfort, hospitality, encouragement or even Godly advice. Whatever the Spirit leads you to do for another, do it. It is important that we help people, but with a right heart attitude. Galatians 6:1 shows us that, “if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one.” We can see that it is our duty as a mature Christian to help lift one of our church brothers or sisters up when they have fallen away, but we are to do it “in the spirit of meekness.” It is not good enough that we say or do the right things but we must do it with the right attitude. Because there is a warning in this verse. “Considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted”. By pointing out others faults without a true desire to help and express love to them, we set ourselves up to be tested in the very same way as the person we have judged. 

 Share your gifts and talents that God has given you with your church body so that others may benefit from what God is doing through you. All of us are made in a special way and have something to offer the body of Christ, and by letting our light shine and not selfishly holding that light back we begin to feel like part of the team. Expecting nothing for your efforts makes one feel vested in the bigger picture and far less vulnerable to be pulled away. 

 Secondly, there are those who were raised in the church as a child. Often they can be more vulnerable because they have endured little to be part of the congregation. It can be easier for them to walk away because they may not fully understand the value of the gift they have been give. As parents there are steps we can take to help show them the greater value of the faith they have been baptized in. 

Children struggle with being accepted by their parents. Even when children speak with contempt toward their parents, deep down inside it is the parent's acceptance they want most in the world. This journey to find that parental blessing may take them away from all that you ever wanted for them. Why would an adult child turn their back to what the parents stands for including their church and faith if they are trying to gain the parents respect? The answer is very simple yet difficult to see. As a child the parent will likely get credit for what the child does, at least from the child's perspective. Over time this can develop into a belief in the child that nothing I do is valuable because it is just the work of my good parents. This distorted belief can drive a child to reject everything the parents stand for and hold valuable. The adult child doesn't choose this road because he believes the parents values are valueless but because they feel it is the only way to break free from the perceived chains that hold the child inadequate in their parents eyes. This can be avoided in the most part by practicing one simple principle. Make your beliefs your child's beliefs. 

 We can help transfer our values to our children by teaching them to study and find answers from the Bible. It is not good enough to teach our children what the Bible has to say. That will only make the Bible your source of truth, but we must show them how to make it their source of truth as well by teaching them to use it. 

 Give our children tools to openly defend their faith. When our children go out into the world and discover just how much the world rejects God and what they believe. This can very quickly make them second guess what they believe because of the shear number of people that will be against them. No one likes rejection and if you aren't fully confident that you're in the right then that rejection can seem pointless. We can help avoid some of this doubt by teaching our children, when they are young, to express their beliefs to the world in a kind and confident way. You can do this many places, such as at the store, in the park, even at friends houses. If you are open to this principle, then opportunities will arise. Remember to teach loving communication. One of the number one vulnerabilities in young adults is being considered hateful by the world. If they can see what they believe is not hateful and communicate it, it will go along way in relieving their conscience. 

 Teach our children the value of family and the value of church family. This will prove valuable when the prodigal child that has left and sees the world for what it is. The love of family may be the first pull upon them to return. Don't hide from our children the investment that their church and church family has made in them. I've heard said before, “I don't want my child to feel guilty if they leave the church” although I understand their thinking. I do feel it is incorrect thinking. There is nothing wrong letting a young person know that the investment a church family makes in you is not so you can walk away someday and chase your own selfish desires, but the investment was made so you could better serve God and the church that God has placed you in. 

 If we want our children to love and respect our church, then we must also love and respect our church. The greatest influence a person has on another, parent child relationships included, is leading by example. If we talk disrespectful about the leaders of the church, they will too. If we don't value church services by only attending when it is convenient, they will do the same. Every aspect of church life that is held in contempt by the parents is a road that has been licensed, surveyed, and constructed by parents right out of the church for their children. 

 Encourage our children to seek skills that will invest them in the local area. It is unrealistic to expect our children to be okay with poverty if it can be avoided. The best way to keep our children from running off into the world looking to make their fortune it to encourage them to find ways to be successful locally. Encourage investment in the land. No greater anchor than land. There are many trades and professional positions in rural and small town environments that a good living can be made but we must help our children see the hope because the world will paint a much different picture for them. 

 Whether you have been raised in your church or you have come in from the outside, both must be emotionally and physically invested in that church. Galatians 6:7-10 says “whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap.” If we want a good harvest from our church we must invest in a good planting. If we are only giving the bare minimum, we will always be disappointed in our church experience. 

Finally, one must surrender all expectations of what they think the church should be. It is so easy to sit back and cast judgment of others and of an entire church, but that will never make one satisfied with anything. Excepting what God has given you and letting God work in an imperfect church will bring the most palatable fruit. Israel was about to enter the promise land given to them by God when they received a report from their scouts as we read in Deuteronomy chapter one. The Israelites were given both a positive and difficult evaluation: despite the great samples they brought back and the promises God had made them. The Israelites heard a report that differed from their expectations. Because of there poor response to God's gift that entire generation was condemned to wander the wilderness. All because of their expectations. 

 Let us commit all that we have and surrender to God all expectations and serve the Church of Christ in its fullest by applying these principles to our lives. May God be praised for the Church of Christ Jesus and the benefits we receive from it.