When I was a young boy, I had a reverent fear of God. My church had a policy that only baptized believers could partake in the Lord's Supper/Holy Communion. Sure, I had put my faith in Jesus but I wasn't baptized. Once I was in some other church and they offered me the bread and the cup. I was a kid and didn't know how to refuse so I took it. After that, such a feeling of dread came over me for I thought that I had offended God. I ran out of the church and sat in a corner, close to tears. Some auntie followed me out and asked me what was the matter. I told her and she didn't ridicule me but comforted me and assured me that God would forgive me.

 

That may sound ridiculous to you and you may be laughing right now, but with the "Jesus loves you"* culture of today, there is a distinct lack of fear and reverence of God. As a kid, I also heard stories of people falling away from the faith when they became adults and found "more important things to do than church". That also put the fear of God in me as I earnestly prayed that I would not ever under any circumstance fall away from my Lord and saviour, Jesus Christ.

 

Now that I'm more adult than boy (there are kid-like aspects of myself that I cannot get rid of, my friends will attest to that) I am still going strong in my faith, still hopeful, still optimistic. I have managed to avoid thus far, the twin dangers of burnout and cynicism that afflict many Christians in ministry. I pray I will never be cynical, disillusioned or  "too tired" to serve my Lord. However, all around me I see numerous examples of Christians falling away. People becoming agnostic, people turning their backs on the church… Heck, I even personally know a great pastor who pastured me as a youth who is currently agnostic. What does this mean? Is Christianity flawed? Isn't it the "real deal"? Admittedly, the church as an institution is massively flawed and has let people down countless times. But what is the "church"? If the organization is flawed, and all we do is complain instead of working on a solution, we're merely adding on to the problem. I learnt from a great man that there is no perfect church. The church will always be flawed. We have to do our part being part of the solution rather than the problem.

 

Now I know a few people who are going through the "doubting and questioning" stage. Why the heck am I a Christian? Why do I believe what I believe? I don't blame them. Maybe they do need to go through that questioning stage to cement their faith. Some guy interviewed by Lee Strobel in Case for Faith says that doubt is necessary to bring about genuine faith. But doubt should lead to genuine soul-searching, genuine investigation. If someone asks me why do I believe what I believe…

 

I will answer in a nutshell, because its TRUTH. We are so influenced by the consumer culture of our day that our reason to believe in something has become… what BENEFITS can this provide me? How can this make my life more comfortable? At the end of the day, those convinced that Christianity is true cannot escape it no matter how they try to run.

 

I'm starting to wonder, will Christians still remain Christians only as long as it's convenient to do so? Why do people fall away? Is it because they've found something more worthy of their time? Is it because they have fallen into a form of recreation, which is classified as SIN by the Bible? Does Christianity clash with your sexual habits? Your lifestyle choices?

 

Why do people fall away? I'm sure there are a gazillion reasons but right now I can think of two.

 

The first. There is no depth in the person's relationship with God, or there was none to begin with. Do you pray and KNOW in your heart of hearts that God hears and he cares? Or do you only pray when exam time comes along? Do you open your Bible on a consistent basis and LISTEN for God to speak to you, or do you open it when your pastor asks you to during the Sunday sermon?

 

Or maybe people fail to comprehend the enormity of what God has done for them. I remember a close friend of mine asking during the person's questioning stage, "So what if Jesus died for me? What's the big deal?" It is a big deal. I challenge everyone who is doubting right now, answer that question for yourself. Ask yourself that question until you find the answer. Because once you do, you will start to understand this truth. Jesus is your TREASURE. He is more important than anything else you have or want. If you understand that, your only possible response will be one of gratitude to his incomprehensible sacrifice.

 

Or maybe people fail to take their faith seriously. Its just something I do. A blank to fill when you're filling in personal details. Name: John. Sex: Male Age: 20 Occupation: Brick layer. Religious Views: Christian. Do you have a compartmentalized Christianity? Is it just a part of you that appears once a week for a couple of hours or does it permeate your being and affect your actions and choices from day to day? Is the Bible just an outdated storybook? Or is there truth in there that is relevant to your life right now?

 

The second. The failure to serve. The first time I did any church "ministry", I was 16. I didn't serve before that because I thought I was incapable of doing so. I thought only musicians and people who went to Bible college could serve. But there was a need to serve within me. I knew I wasn't fulfilling my Christian duty if I did not serve. So I became an usher for youth service. No skill required, just availability. From there, people saw that I took what I did seriously and gave me more responsibility. I guess people could serve without understanding the heart of serving. What service ultimately does is help crucify our selfish nature. Face it, we're all selfish. All of us. We always look out for number one. Service helps us focus on others rather than ourselves. It helps us become less selfish and more selfless. Serving is not a role you play at church. It's an approach to life. We help our friends out all the time. That's serving. We just need to move up a notch and serve people we don't particularly like.

 

Matthew 13:1-23. The parable of the sower. Verse 19. When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path. 20. The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 21 But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away. 22 The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful. 23 But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.

 

I pray that you, my friends who read this, are good soil. Amen.

 

 

* Please do not misinterpret my statement. Jesus does love you. A whole lot.