June 22, 2025
The key to achievement in any area is simply commitment. Without commitment, nothing can be accomplished, especially anything challenging or difficult. A good example is trying to lose weight. Without commitment to a dieting plan, nothing can be achieved. You will simply lose and regain, lose and regain, ad infinitum. This is the way most people diet, unsuccessfully.
The same can be said of living a Christian life. One must be committed to Christ and to living in conformity to his leadership and lordship in order to succeed. However, keep in mind that a person does not change himself; God changes those who choose, through commitment, to repent of their sinful lifestyle and allow the Holy Spirit to change them. The difference is commitment. We have known of people who were apparently committed to Christ, yet later showed no evidence of living a life of submission to the Lord.
Since we believe in the eternal security of the saints, we must conclude that such people were not actually converted in the first place. They are like the seed in the parable of the Sower, which fell on shallow ground. They developed no root and soon fell away (Mt. 13:20). People like that can be the most enthusiastic “Christians” of all at first, but check back in a few weeks or months, and you’ll find them again living their former lives. They will have dropped out of church and stopped displaying any evidence of Christian commitment. Such people are very unlikely ever again to be reached for the Lord. They have “been there, done that.”
It is not at all surprising that few people take the “straight and narrow” path that leads to life. Most take the easy “broad road” that leads to destruction. Why? The answer eludes all ministers. Why should anyone choose hell over heaven? I believe it boils down to a lack of faith in God’s existence. If one believes in God, one must assume that what God says about heaven and hell is true. And if he believes there is a hell or place of torment, how could he choose it instead of heaven, the place of eternal joy and happiness? Obviously, he cannot believe in God.
I believe the majority of people living today are, in effect, atheists because of the way they live. Anyone believing in God must also believe that He will punish evil doers. Yet we see heinous crimes committed every day all over the earth. How can anyone who does such evil believe in God? I don’t believe they can, because I think belief in God is a restraint on people’s actions.
Another, more subtle, example of unbelief, at least in God’s Word, exists even in many churches today. There are people who faithfully go to church each Sunday, yet commit grievous acts of greed and dishonesty all through the workweek: businessmen who cheat, lie, and steal; married men and women who have affairs; others who scam and abuse the elderly or even their own parents. All such people are bound for hell. If they really believed in God, how could they think they would be allowed into heaven? Jesus said that those who do the will of the Father are his brothers, sisters, and mother (Mt. 12:50). This is referring to those who will go to heaven through belief in him, Jesus the Christ, who is God. Many of these people think that belonging to a church, especially the Roman Catholic Church, will save them. They are sorely mistaken.
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Ralph Fudge is the pastor of Big Ochlocknee Baptist Church in Coolidge, Ga., and has a Master’s degree in theology from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
