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I've been thinking about Edith lately. I mentioned Edith in a previous article about forgiveness. She came to mind this time while I was pondering the relationship between obedience and the assurance of salvation.
It is quite some years ago now when I received that early morning 'phone call from Edith. She was calling me as her Pastor because she was afraid that she was no longer saved from sin's penalty and power. She lacked what we simply refer to as 'assurance of salvation'.
As our conversation unfolded over the next few weeks it became apparent that Edith's sense of God's "absence" or "distance" was directly connected with her refusal to forgive a number of people who had wronged her many years previously. For a Christian, refusal to forgive another person or persons is to disobey a direct commandment of Scripture. And disobedience has consequences.
There have been times and, in a few cases, seasons in my life when I have been like Edith. Perhaps that is true for you, too. Those seasons may not have been triggered by the specific issue of unforgiveness but they have involved disobedience of one kind or another.
The reality is this: sin in whatever form has a number of predictable and inevitable consequences so far as our relationship to God is concerned. What follows is a compilation of insights gathered from talking with fellow believers as well as what I have found to be true in my own spiritual journey.
1. Diminishing Sensitivity.
When we make a choice to disobey the Lord, a subtle de-sensitizing begins to take place within our spirit. Our sense of conviction of sin begins to diminish. What seemed so wrong to our tender, sensitive conscience up to this point slowly becomes not-so-bad. We begin to rationalize our choices, our disobedience. What we could in no way once justify we now find excuses and explanations that make our choice to disobey a little more understandable if not acceptable.
One day it occurs to us that we are now willing to accommodate that which we would have resisted with all our might not so long ago. But that awareness no longer energizes us to turn things around through repentance and restoration. As our spiritual sensitivity slowly diminishes, so does our spiritual awareness. We become dull of mind and spirit. The "still small voice" which was just a whisper in the first place becomes virtually inaudible.
To change the picture, the word 'drifting' comes to mind.
We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. (Heb 2:1-2 NIV)
The great danger with drifting is that it can be very slow and almost imperceptible. Before we know it we have drifted into what could be a most dangerous situation. Paying "careful attention" is the last response on our agenda because we are insensitive or unaware of our dire situation.
The fact is that obedience increases our spiritual sensitivity while disobedience diminishes it.
There are 3 other consequences (at least) that flow from disobedience but more about those over the next few postings on this site
