WordLive - Year OneSample

Prepare: Do you know anyone who used to call themselves a Christian, but wouldn’t say they were now? Do you think they really were believers in the first place? Falling away? When I was young, there was a period when I thought that, if I did something wrong, I had to become a Christian all over again – that, in effect, I was hopping in and out of salvation. Obviously, I misunderstood things. That’s not what falling away in verse 6 refers to. Neither does it mean that it’s impossible for believers who have genuine struggles or times of doubt to be restored in their faith. Keep going Many, if not all of us, will go through those sorts of things. The author here is talking about someone deliberately cutting themselves off from all that they have known of God and turning away from him. It’s a bit like buying an outfit, enjoying wearing it for a while, and then deciding it doesn’t suit you. The readers of the letter are already showing by their lifestyle that this doesn’t apply to them. What they’re doing for God’s people indicates their love for him (v 10), and again they’re being encouraged to keep going. The writer wants them to go on being productive ground rather than a wasteland (vs 7,8), benefiting others as well as themselves (v 11). Respond: The same thing happening to different people can lead to very different outcomes. Pray that what happens to you will help you to produce ‘a useful crop’. http://www.wordlive.org/Session/Classic/2012-03-02