WEAK, ILL, OR NIL CHRISTIANS

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.   EPHESIANS 6:10

WHY ARE SOME CHRISTIANS SO WEAK?

With the coming of a New Year I find myself taking a personal inventory.  I’ve been thinking about the victories and the setbacks of the year past.  There were some really great times I am so thankful to have experienced, and then there were some moments that I wish I could delete from my memory. 

This proves that I am not my computer.  My computer deletes what I want to keep, and keeps what I want to delete.  I on the other hand seem to keep what I want to delete, and delete what I ought to keep. Just sayin…

 Realizing that there’s not too much that I can do about the past, I think the Apostle Paul had it right: “Forgetting the things which are behind, and reaching forth to the things which are before, I press toward the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:13).  So we press on!.

WEAK or ILL, or NIL?

Before focusing on the path to spiritual strength, I wondered if it is even proper to speak of a “weak Christians?”  Turns out it is a Biblical concept.  Writing to the Church at Rome, and again to the believers at Corinth, the Apostle Paul urges mature Christians to do nothing that would offend those who are “weak in faith,” or “weak brothers.”  (Romans 14:2; 1 Corinthians 8:11). 

Writing to the Church 1600 years ago, St. Augustine observed that weak Christians are anxious for spiritual victories, but they are reticent to sacrifice or to suffer for Christ.  Indeed.

“Ill Christians,” Augustine warned, were those who had lost their appetite and desire to do what is right.  He warned that when the love of the world or some evil desire assaults the heart of Christians, it renders them “sick and listless.”

My great fear is that many who consider themselves weak or ill Christians are actually nil Christians—they are not Christians at all.  They may have a “form of godliness,” but they “deny the power thereof.”(2 Timothy 3:5).  They may “profess to know God, but in works they deny Him.” (Titus 1:16).  They say that they love God, but they do not keep His commandments. The Bible calls them “liars.” (1 John 2:4).  They may be awakened to the truths of God’s claim on their lives, but they have yet to fully surrender to Him.

Of this truth we are sure, all who are truly Christ’s are growing (Ephesians 4:15) in grace and knowledge (2 Peter 3:18), increasing in love (1 Thessalonians 3:12), and having cleansed themselves from all the filthiness of the flesh, they are perfecting holiness in the fear of God. (2 Corinthians 7:1)  Even new-born Christians discover that in Christ there is victory over sin. “Whosoever abides in Him, sins not.” (I John 3:6). The Apostle Paul testifies: “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid.  How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein?” (Romans 6:1-7) Indeed, all God’s children continually, “hunger and thirst after righteousness,” and “are [and are continually] filled.” (Matthew 5:6).

WHETHER THE CHRISTIAN IS WEAK OR STRONG WE ARE ABSOLUTELY SURE THAT ALL CHRISTIANS GO TO HEAVEN.  Jesus said to His disciples, “I go to prepare a place for you.” (John 14:1-6). We are sure THAT ALL WHO ARE HEAVEN-BOUND, AS WELL ALL THOSE WHO TODAY ARE IN HEAVEN, ARE CHRISTIANS. And we are positive that all who are not Biblical Christians, THOSE WHO ARE NOT SAVED will be forever lost in hell.