Set Your Course

"They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us."
1 John 2:19 (NIV)

John warns about people who once claimed faith in Jesus and walked away entirely. 

A megachurch pastor publicly renounces Christianity and calls it his “deconstruction”. A songwriter who wrote some of the finest worship songs you've ever sung says he's genuinely losing his faith. In 1 John 2:19, John writes about people just like them. "They went out from us,” he says, “but they were not of us," (1 John 2:19, ESV). 

Notice in today’s verse, how many times John repeats those two small words, they and us, in a single sentence. He uses “they” six times and “us” five, drawing a hard, deliberate line between two different groups of people. So what happened to the ones who walked away? Did they lose their salvation? John says no. They didn't lose it, because they never actually had it. Their leaving didn't take something away from them. It just showed what had been true the whole time. You can't lose what you never had.

Notice where it always starts. It begins with walking away from the Word, which is why John tells you to do the opposite. A few verses earlier in 1 John 2:6, John gives you a secret to remaining steadfast in your faith. He says you must “abide” in Him. That word “abide” doesn't mean a feeling. It literally means to remain, to stay put. It’s the same word for refusing to move from where you've planted your feet.

General Omar Bradley put it another way. Set your course by the stars, not the lights of every passing ship. Scripture is the one light that never drifts, no matter how many other lights are blinking around you.

Come to His Word and abide there, because you don't drift all at once. You drift one skipped morning, one sharp word, one small compromise at a time. Let the Holy Spirit show you exactly where that drift has already started, and ask Him to help you close the gap before it widens.

Stay put in the Word, and you'll never lose your way home.

Prayer: Lord, thank You that I don’t need to be afraid of losing my faith–because You are holding me steady. Draw me close to You, and never let me go. Help me fix my eyes on Your Word today, and every day. In Jesus' Name, Amen.