ABANDONMENT

I Was Just Thinking About - - -

Abandonment is a fluid word that has different applications in different circumstances. The overall possibility of the term iis defined as:  "to leave completely and finally; to forsake utterly; to give up the control of." When the Titanic sailed into an Iceberg, there came a moment of panic when the obvious became the actual and “abandon ship” was the only option. The summary of that event is very terse and descriptive: “On 10 April 1912 the RMS Titanic sailed from Southampton, England with 2,200 passengers and crew, four days later the Titanic collided with an iceberg and sank: 1500 people died and 700 survived.” In many rural areas, one can drive into various small towns where businesses and houses that were once occupied and thriving are now vacant and decaying. The houses and businesses have basically been abandoned. The neglect is obvious. Detroit, Michigan is a prime example of a once thriving city where most automobiles were manufactured now a wasteland as industry has relocated to other states or nations.

There are websites (bing.com/images) that picture once beautiful places designed and built for worship or business that have been abandoned. They sit vacant and vandalized. The demise has occurred over several years until the reality of (1) people moving away from close proximity to the church; (2) insufficient funds for operating expenses; and (3) local demographic and economic transitions that bring into question the feasibility of continuing on. There are many reasons for the demise of churches. One is a growing disinterest in what the church is doing and promoting. There is also the area of inadequate and incompetent pastoral care that is being tolerated. A beneath the surface issue within and among the church congregants is the failure to address sin and to deal with it promptly.

On a personal basis, one should slowly read through I John. This is a book that is as clear, simple and precise as it can get. For an illustration, read I John 1:5-10, “And this is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you: God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with Him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar, and His word is not in us.” Does any of this apply to you? If so, have you dealt with it by confessing and forsaking (abandoning) your sin?

Another of these definitive and clearly stated premises is in I John 5:11-12, “And this is that testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.” Do you know this truth as a fact in your life? Is this your assurance of your professed faith in Jesus Christ? Verse 13 declares: “I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life." The purposeful words of Acts 3:19-20 need to be applied in individual lives as well as the corporate life of a particular Church, “Repent, then, and turn back, so that your sins may be wiped away, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send Jesus, the Christ, who has been appointed for you.” Only a mortician anticipates and thrives with death and the dying. A major difference with a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ is that he/she anticipates and thrives on life and thriving. Are you ready to repent so that times of refreshing may come to you from the presence of the Lord? Will you repent of (abandon) your sin so a time of refreshing will enter your life?  Consider these things with me!