Youth group doesn't last forever

I realize that mainly my close friends and family will be the ones (if any) who read this.  But I guess I am just wanting to purge my brain of the millions of thoughts that seem to be racing through it at every moment of every day, so please remember that I am writing mainly to and for my own therapeutic process.:)

Mark 4, The Parable of the Sower

Jesus explained the parable of the sower to his disciples like this, "The sower sows the word. And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold." (Mark 4:14-20 ESV)

Jesus says that in some who hear the word of God, the word will "prove unfruitful."  This does not mean that they didn't first hear it, get excited, go tell their friends and family, live in the emotions of their newly found discovery, go to church camp, get in a Bible study, start tithing, and think their life was completely and forever changed.  But what did Jesus say happened?  That 1. the cares of the world, 2. the deceitfulness of riches, and 3. the desires for other things enter in (these are the thorns from v. 7).  They choke out all excitement for God, dulling the hearer's senses to anything spiritual and decreasing their appetite for God.  Oh, I have bought into these lies before, and they are so subtle, so well-crafted, that we often don't see them as what they truly are...thorns choking the life out of us!  Some of these lies are:

• turning to God is not the solution to the problems I'm facing
• my "issues" are not spiritual ones, God isn't relevant to me right now
• I can compartmentalize my life into categories so that God stays separate from my emotions, my physical body, my thoughts, my desires
• having money and stuff feels better than seeking God now, so it must be what I need to focus on
• I don't have a desire to daily seek God so it must be His fault
• if I stop pursuing a relationship with God, then He will just disappear from my life, almost like He was a figment of my imagination.  
• God isn't fun, knowing Him is just hard work and not worth it

And the list could go on and on.

I would just like to say that if your beliefs and theology aren't tested, examined, studied, KNOWN, then they WILL NOT stand up against what this world throws at you.  Your desire for God WILL, without a doubt, be choked out by worldly cares, money, and desire for other things besides God.

Friends, it's easy to desire what we see, what is tangible and attainable in the here and now.  It's not as easy to eagerly desire what we cannot see, what we must wait for, and what we must persevere to attain.

I see so many people who were strong believers in the past, very active in high school youth group or were even Sunday School teachers, who now have put their Biblical foundation aside and embraced secular philosophies, worldly wisdom, and politically correct ideals.  Now don't get me wrong, I am all about the security of the believer and I believe that God holds His kids securely in His hand (John 10:28-29) and nothing can separate His children from His love in Christ (Rom. 8:38-39).  But I also believe that MANY people who think they knew Jesus at one time in their lives will be rejected by God when they die because they did not "do the will of [the] Father who is in heaven" (Matt. 7: 21).

Please hear what the Bible says:  it's not what you did with God's word yesterday that makes His word prove fruitful, it's what you did yesterday, what you do today, and what you will do tomorrow.  It all matters.  If you said a prayer when you were 8 years old, were baptized, and haven't talked to God since then, you should not feel like you know God.  That is a false theology you are buying into, not a Biblical one.  Sure, God knows everyone on the planet; but He has a special, intimate knowledge of His children (John 10:27-28).  True believers see God as their treasure (Matt. 13:44), their lifeline (John 14:6), the food they eat (John 6:48) and the water they drink (John 4:14),   It's the continued belief, the perseverance of the faith, that marks us as true believers.  Consider what the Bible says about perseverance:

• "For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised." (Heb. 10:36)
• "But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing." (James 1:25)
• "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith."(2 Timothy 4:7)
• "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it." (1 Cor. 9:24)
• "But the one who endures to the end will be saved." (Matt. 24:13)

I am deeply saddened when I see people claiming to love the Jesus of the Bible then posting all kinds of non-Biblical ideas on Facebook and other social media.  It disturbs me so much to think that people I love feel a false sense of security that their eternal destination is settled because of one incident of calling on God many years ago.  I pray that the thorns choking the life-giving power out of Word of God in the people I love will be cut back with the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God; I pray that those who have known the Truth will accept it and be rooted and grounded in it so that they could withstand what the world and Satan throw their way; I pray.