Your Spiritual Life: Devotions From Time Of GraceSample

Can people fall from faith?

Does it really matter if you live and practice the Christian faith outwardly as long as you still know and believe the basics in your heart? A little girl says, “Dad, why doesn’t your brother go to church anymore?” If you were a believer once, can you lose your faith and salvation?

You most certainly can. If that happens, it is no fault of God’s, who loves all people equally, distributes his grace and mercy unconditionally, and desires in his Fatherly heart that all should be saved. The sad truth is that just as some people weary of life and in spite of many blessings choose to end it through suicide, some people weary of their faith lives and flirt with spiritual suicide.

This warning is for real: “Do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For in just a very little while, ‘He who is coming will come and will not delay’” (Hebrews 10:35-37).

When people disconnect from God’s Word and the sacraments, their faith begins to die. Some people actually throw away their confidence, i.e., their faith in the Savior’s forgiveness and promise of immortality. You can’t control people’s decisions. But you can be God’s words and hands of welcome, calling people to come in off the ledge.