“One of the scariest words in the Bible is apostasy, which can be defined as a slow fade or when you face the Cross, but are walking backwards from it, believing that you’re actually following Jesus just because you know it’s there.

The Bible talks much about apostasy in the form of warnings and prophecies, but we don’t hear much about it in our pop Christian culture. We’ve got lots of talk about grace, “decisions” for Christ, health and prosperity, politics, and songs about Jesus living to rescue us 24/7 and mend our broken hearts, but not a whole lot on apostasy.

That’s truly frightening since only Christians can become apostate. The typical weekly spiritual intake of the typical American Christian practically guarantees a slip and slide into apostasy:

We sit through a 20-30 minute sermon once or twice a week, which alone can never bring us to maturity in Christ or help us discover and fulfill our spiritual purpose on earth.

We extend our hands during the “Grip and Grin” on Sunday mornings, which isn’t meaningful, Christian fellowship.

We listen to Christian music during the day, and as comforting and encouraging as that is, music cannot conform us to the image
and character of Christ.

We read through a devotional or Christian book whenever we have a little extra time, which will never be enough to sufficiently
renew our minds in the Truth and overcome the lies already embedded there.

So, if you want to prevent morphing into a religious person who possesses a “form of godliness that has no power,” (2 Timothy 3:5) you’re going to have to live spiritually harder than that. You’re going to have to do the hard work of developing a transformational devotional life in the Word of God, practicing obedience to Jesus Christ (actually doing what He says), and submitting to honest accountability with a sister in Christ running the race faster and harder than you. Begin doing that and it is less likely you’ll wind up a spiritual statistic of the slow fade.”

– Guest blog, Susie Walther, www.thewellbiblestudy.org

   … These are my sisters – who are running the race faster and harder than me…  Thank you for modelling how it is to be done!!