Week 12, Day 2: Turning Back
Today’s Reading: Jude 1:1-25, 1 Corinthians 1:1-31
Some thoughts from yesterday’s reading…
There are times in inspired scripture that it seems that God is trying to use “shock value” to get our attention. This is a tactic that works! Think about how often you are drawn to listen to something on the radio, or watch something on TV because the introduction or “lead in” to it was shocking. It gets our attention, and makes us pay attention to the message. The same thing is sometimes true in the Bible. This happens in 1 Peter 2:20-22.
Peter is addressing those that follow after a false teacher. He points out that these people are faithful Christians, who listen to a message that is not founded on Biblical teaching. This causes them to fall away from the truth, turning back into sinful practices. Peter tells us that those who entangled and overcome with the pollutions of the world are worse off than if they had never heard the gospel. This is not because there is a greater punishment, but rather because there “remains no more sacrifice for sin” (Hebrews 10:26). This person has accepted the gospel message, and then turned their back on it. There is nothing left with which to convince them to make changes in their lives! That does not mean that the same gospel will not one day prick their heart again. But, in their rejection of the gospel, they have turned their backs on God, and the salvation that He offers to them.
The latter part of this passage is the “shocking” part. How, exactly, does God view one who would be so bold as to turn his back on Him? Two vivid pictures are painted for us, and the Holy Spirit (I believe) wants us to picture the gruesomeness of the pictures. The first is of the dog that returns to its own vomit. Anyone who has been around dogs much has seen this practice. A dog will eat something that makes it sick, and then vomit it out on the ground. Before long, you will see that same dog return to that vomit, and lick it up again. That should be a picture that turns our stomachs! it is certainly not something pleasant to think about. The second picture is of a hog which will roll in its own excrement. A hog that is freshly washed will go right into the mire (a mixture of feces and mud) and roll around, making itself stink.
These illustrate what the Christian who returns to the world, and becomes unfaithful is like. They are like that dog eating its own vomit, or that hog wallowing in its own excrement after being cleansed. There is no more gruesome act that a Christian can do than to return to the world, contaminating himself once again with those things that he once renounced and left behind. God views us as repulsive, just as we view these examples as repulsive.
Peter’s writing should make us seriously consider the act of giving up on God and His word. How can we be so nasty, and repulse God in such a way? How can we give up the blessings that come with being purged, and being clean? How can we contaminate ourselves before God? I hope this “shocks” us enough that we will remain faithful to God, ignoring the teachings of false teachers. We certainly don’t want to envision ourselves as a part of Peter’s illustrations!
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