"A Great Tragedy"

It's one of those mornings as I begin thinking of those to remember in prayer to bring before God. I began jotting names and needs and it started hitting me. People that come to my mind, whom I have tried to reach out to have chosen on their own accord, with their full heart acceptance to walk away from the Lord. It is disturbing and puzzling why people would want to throw away their confidence in Christ, push Him aside and walk over the top of Him as if He does not exist or hold their eternal destiny in His hand.

Yesterday I was speaking with a preacher from another area and he was telling me about those who had left where he preached. His words hit me as he said we need to get them back to church so they could encourage us and we could encourage them. I know what he meant but it seemed the point is missed. Back to church? Is that what they need to do, just come back to church for encouraging and being encouraged? That too troubled my heart but I guess as I get older a lot of things that I never thought about trouble my heart.

People don't need to come back to the assembly (that's what back to church really is about). The church is the assembly of the saved! Saved people assemble. Unsaved people have no drive within the heart to assemble with the saved to worship God. It is all about a relationship to the Lord. People that walk away walk away from the Lord, not the church! You get them to put their faith in Jesus and Him alone and they will be back to assemble with the saints to express thanks to God for their salvation! The unsaved feel out of place worshiping God with the saved. There is no relationship and all they have within their heart is gloom and doom, nothing to praise the Lord and be thankful for. They have no relationship with the Lord so they have no relationship with those who love the Lord. Too many times we are trying to make it more social than spiritual.

Here I sit, looking at names of those who have chosen to leave the Lord. In each case as I think of them, every single one of them is greatly strained in their life and conscience. I know for a fact as I have personally spoken with them. They know what they are doing and where they stand. It is a terrible tragedy that people choose eternal lostness but it is a greater tragedy when those who walk away believe they have no alternative!