There is a view in Christianity that leads to a false sense
of security. Thankfully, not everyone who has that view actually lives it out
in practice although they will adamantly defend it. We’ll get to that view
later, but let’s begin with dealing with a false sense of security.
In 1976, two young guys had developed a personal computer
that they thought people would be interested in buying. All they wanted to do
was pursue making more, selling them, and developing the concept further.
These two men, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, went to Atari and said, 'Hey,
we've got this amazing thing, even built with some of your parts, and what do
you think about funding us? Or we'll give it to you. We just want to do it. Pay
our salary, we'll come work for you.'
And Atari said, “No.”
So then we went to Hewlett-Packard, who Wozniak was working for at the time,
and HP said, 'Hey, we don't need you. You haven't got through college
yet.'"
Atari and HP missed opportunities because they had a false sense of security.
They thought they were heading in the right direction and didn’t need this new
approach. As of Friday, April 13, HP is worth 5.84 billion dollars and Atari is
worth 38.05 million dollars while Apple, the company they both refused to take
on, is worth 580.65 billion dollars.
A false sense of security that is the result of success can cause us to miss
opportunities because we think things are just fine. False security can drown
out our sense of adventure.
Let’s flash forward to the present time. Apple is now the heavyweight of the
computer field, worth more than twice the value Microsoft. And they are invulnerable
to malicious programs, or so they try to make us think. Right on their website
they state, “With virtually no effort on your part, OS X defends against
viruses and other malicious applications, or malware.” Lulling their users into
a false sense of security.
Thanks to Apple’s marketing, many Apple users think they are invulnerable to
malicious software. But just the other week over 600,000 Apple computers were
infected with the Flashback Trojan. Roel Schouwenberg, a senior researcher at
Kaspersky Lab, a leading antivirus software company, who has analyzed the
malware said, “Mac users have been led to believe they’re safe and turned off
their paranoia filter. There is a lot of easy prey out there.”
A false sense of security that is the result of pride and complacency can
cause us to compromise ourselves by doing things we shouldn’t do.
This leads us back to our view on the subject at hand. Many Christians have
a false sense of eternal security that leads them to miss opportunities for
what Jesus wants them to do and compromise their convictions in do things they
shouldn’t do.
I can’t do a thorough Bible study in this article, but I will give you some
of the key verses. Read the context around them to get a better picture because
Scripture isn’t intended to be read in little bites like this.
“The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I
will never blot his name out of the book
of life. I will confess his name before my
Father and before his angels” (Rev 3:5 ESV). One’s name would not need
to be blotted out if it could not be removed.
“Have
fallen away” (Heb 6:6 ESV). This section in Hebrews talks about the
impossibility of restoring one who has fallen away. The phrase “fallen away”
implies that one can leave.
“But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’
that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin” (Hebrews 3:13
ESV). The writer of Hebrews would not give a warning if becoming hardened by
sin was not possible.
“If you hold fast to the word I preached to you— unless you
believed in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:2 ESV). The Bible is full of instructions
to hold fast, continue on, and remain in the teaching they originally received.
These instructions would be unnecessary if those in the faith were guaranteed
to never stray out of it.
As for the verses that seem to emphasize that nothing can pluck us from God’s
hand. They’re right. Nothing can pluck us from God’s hand. However, that doesn’t
mean we can’t flee God’s presence. The early church was going through a lot of
trials and persecution. These verses emphasized to them that they could not be
removed from the presence of God’s presence nor from receiving His gracious,
saving grace.
Nothing in this world has the power in itself to damage our spiritual relationship
with God. Our spirit is invulnerable to the physical unless we allow the bad
situations we go through to create doubts in us that we allow to fester into
inaction or sin.
So when the world is telling us to compromise, we don’t because no amount of
suffering or pleasure is worth giving up God’s grace and calling. When circumstances
attempt to deceive us into being inactive, we will refuse because we know that
God’s work is not done here yet.
Thankfully, most Christians who disagree on the big, theological concept
still agree on the practical ways to live it out. And in that, we can continue
on bringing about the will of the Lord on earth as it is in heaven while we
rest assured that nothing in this world can remove us from God’s grace - except
for ourselves.
As Teddy Roosevelt once said, “God save you from the werewolf and from your
heart's desire.”
