-Some will fall away. These are the "apostates” (that’s the word in the Greek). Luke 8.13. They may have truly trusted in Jesus, or perhaps they have only superficially believed something(s) about Him, but (for now at least) they are distracted. They are not paying attention to sound doctrine, to the truth of the Gospel, they are not paying attention to Jesus, in fact. No, they are paying attention to something “different” (1Timothy 1.3), something concocted by deceiving spirits and demons, those beings and that mindset which is opposed to God and His truth. The spawn of hell, if you will.
-Some will fall away, Paul says. The truth is, there is a desperate battle being waged, every day, and nobody is ever exempt from the wiley wiles of the enemy, his fiery darts and deceitful slings and arrows (Ephesians 6.16), false accusations, discouragements. Nobody is ever so experienced or educated or on such a spiritual roll as to be spiritually invincible, immune to these attacks. Nobody. The spiritual casualty list is littered with names of the illustrious and (in?)famous, of those thought to be impervious. Every day, there is a prowling lion (1Peter 5.8) ready to roar and do his darndest to frighten and distract and defeat those who would follow the Lamb of God in spiritual triumph (2Corinthians 2:14).
-Some will fall away. To a shepherd, this has to be one of the saddest verses in all of Scripture. Which was certainly the heart of our Savior, the Good Shepherd (John 6.39, 17.12, 18.9) - He lost none but the one now referred to as the son of destruction (that one who sadly was destined to fall away). That is certainly the heart of the good Father, Who is daily looking and longing and waiting for His prodigal son(s and daughters!) to return home. Yet some WILL fall away, Paul says, in later times. A future fact. Elsewhere he mentions a latter-day “Apostasy” - a specific time of falling away (2Thessalonians 2.3). The word means to stand away, a separation - it could be a physical distancing (cf Luke 2.37) or more of a relational/functional distancing. It is a departure, a state of spiritual revolution, deserters, a revolt of the worst kind. It does beg the question of whether or not these who thus distance themselves from the truth of the Gospel, esp in whatever later time(s) to which Paul is referring, will have actually trusted in Christ to begin with. Without taking the time to unpack that here (this author firmly believes that those who trust in the Good Shepherd, who have heard and responded to His voice and are truly called of God can never be separated nor even separate themselves from Him - Romans 8.1, 8.29-30; John 10.27-29), it is safe to say that all these ones thus distanced need to make sure they have trusted in Christ and then follow and obey Him, each and every day.
-And needless to say, you and I and all God’s people (and even those who are not) are all at risk, at risk of being distracted and distanced from the Truth and from what is truly most important - just like Martha (Luke 10.40-41). She was distracted from the purity and simplicity of devotion to Christ (2Corinthians 11.3) - by something good, in fact. She was so focused on serving (that’s what she did - John 12.2), working so very hard to host the Lord in her very own home, but she got so caught up in it that she somehow found herself distanced from Jesus, unable to focus on Him first and foremost. Surely we all have a little bit of Martha in us, surely we are all prone to those benign distractions and dalliances which can redirect our focus away from Jesus, away from pure and simple devotion to Him. And then there are those demonic distractions of more monstrous and disastrous proportions which can really upset the proverbial oxcart. Next verse...
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