ABANDONMENT

II Chron. 15:1-2  Then the Spirit of God came upon Azariah son of Obed, and he went out to meet King Asa as he was returning from the battle.  “Listen to me, Asa!” he shouted.  “Listen, all you people of Judah and Benjamin!  The LORD will stay with you as long as you stay with him!  Whenever you seek him, you will find him.  But if you abandon him, he will abandon you.”

King Asa and his army had just come back from a great victory over the Ethiopians. God had intervened on their behalf and delivered them, even though the Ethiopian army was a million strong.  Asa was a godly king and had prayed and asked the Lord for help.

God sent Azariah to Asa and his army to forewarn them.  They had just seen the miraculous power of God at work right before their eyes and now they dared not forget that it was the Lord who did it.  God insisted that they know that in order for Him to continue to shine His favor upon them, they had to stay in fellowship with Him.  There was no mistaking the message.  God would always be with those who stayed with Him.  He would always be found by those who would seek Him.  But, if anyone would walk away from God and abandon Him, He would no longer be with them to watch over and bless them.

We need to not forget this message.  There are those who proclaim because we are under God’s grace we cannot lose God’s favor once we put our trust in Him.  Yet, God has not changed.  He is holy and holiness cannot co-exist with sin.  Sin drives God away from us.  If we choose to abandon God, how can we expect God to hang around with us?  If God can overlook sin because He loves us, then He would cease to be holy.  His holiness is not negated by His love.  If there were no repercussions for forsaking God, then how can we declare Him just?  How is it possible for us to live in sin and still think that we can be acceptable to God?  We need to carefully consider these thoughts.

I do believe that those who are in Christ are eternally secure in Him.  The issue is what it mean to be in Christ.  Is it not living a holy life?  Is it not letting the Spirit of Christ change us and teach us the way of holiness?  Is it not striving to please the Lord and not ourselves?  Is it not choosing to resist sin and when we do sin, dealing with it before Christ? 

We must be careful about our relationship with God.  As His children, we must live like it.  We mock God and the work of Christ at Calvary when we minimize the seriousness of sin in our lives.