Years ago, I met the son of a well-known missionary. He told me with great sadness that his father had left the faith, divorced his mother, and had taken on the religion of his new wife. He said that he hadn’t seen his father for years and didn’t know where he was or if he was even still alive. With him, I prayed in hope that his father’s heart was changed.
And with you, I pray that all hearts are changed. Especially the hearts of all who have left the church. We pray that they will see the world for the moral pigsty that it is, come to their senses, and return to the Father. And when saints do return, it is an occasion to have a party.
I could substitute names and tell you the stories of those who have forsaken Jesus and his church, but the names are too many, and the painful memories run too deep. Like so many, I too am tempted to say, “God knows their hearts,” and to go about my business as if everything is guaranteed to be alright in the end.
God does not call us to judge every brother’s walk in the Lord. Our obligation is to live for Christ and to express his love through truth and good works. However, there is clear instruction about the brother who has walked away from Jesus and is not coming back. Scripture speaks of him as being in the worst of conditions.
This is not the brother who has returned to Jesus after wandering off with doubts or having been overcome with pride or temptation. This is the brother who, like “a dog returns to its own vomit, “and, “a sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire” (2Pet2:22), has turned away from the holy commandment. “It is impossible to renew them again to repentance since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame” (Heb.6:6).
We must ever watch out for one another, lest a brother chooses the worst kind of impossible.
John Staiger
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