Fear and Trembling

This is a link to an excellent post regarding the recent “falling away” of prominent evangelical author and pastor Joshua Harris. The writer of the famous book I Kissed Dating Goodbye announced that he was “deconstructing” and no longer would call himself a Christian. He also gave an apology to the LGBTQ+ community.

Other than the well-known book, I know little of Joshua Harris or his ministry. I have grown increasingly unsurprised when those who walked among us for a time leave the fold. I have witnessed not a few friends and prominent evangelicals fall away the last several years. 

I do not want to jump to quick reactions thinking that many of these men and women (like Joshua Harris) were never truly earnest or committed to God at one point in their lives. I do not know the thoughts or intents of their hearts. My vantage point is limited—sufficiently so.

While it does not surprise me that people will and do leave the faith, it always saddens me. It also causes me to tremble. It motivates me to walk carefully, for I know that in myself, left to my own devices, I do not have the strength to persevere to the end. 

If I compare myself to those who have left, I recognize that many of them possessed greater zeal for the Lord than I have now. Many had greater devotion to God than I now possess. Many had a semblance of much fruit in their life. Some have written books and shepherded flocks for years. Some have sacrificed much for the sake of the cross—and still they leave.

So what is it that keeps me and not them?

Solely the grace of God.

And so I tremble. I examine and re-examine my heart to see if I am in the faith. I recommit to watching a praying, that I too may not fall into temptation. I fall on my knees and entrust the keeping of my soul to the hands of God, assured that if He began a good work in me He will bring it to completion at the day of Christ.

Moments like this remind me how narrow the road is that leads to life everlasting. How precarious is the ground where these seeds have been scattered! Day by day our enemy seeks to sift us like wheat. There is a world without us, there is a flesh within us. We are pressed up on all sides by threats and deceptions, assaults and schemes. The forces of darkness do not break a moment from the stealing, the killing, and the destroying.

Yet the majority of us walk completely oblivious to all of this. We feel secure because we at one time prayed a prayer or because we “believe in Jesus.” We put off watching. We become distracted as the battle rages. We get numbed by the comforts and entertainments of this life. We forget the stakes. We fall asleep. And then, we wonder why our marriages fail and our churches are impotent! We awake shocked to find our faith mired in doubt and our love for Christ cold.

It should never surprise us when people fall away, but it should always be a sober reminder that our frame is but dust. Paul’s warning remains in every generation: “Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.” Let us then be resolved to work out our salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in us both to will and to work for his good purpose.