Introduction

The start of the holiday shopping season generally begins on the day after Thanksgiving, also known as Black Friday. It’s one of the busiest shopping days of the year and people get in a frenzy when shopping for bargains.

Ironically, the day after Christmas is, traditionally, known as the day of returns. People line up to return an item that was painstakingly chosen for their holiday gift. Most of the time it’s the wrong size, wrong color, or it’s simply something that they already have.

In the religious world, when people leave The Faith, they also return a gift that was given to them. And that is the gift of Salvation.

Returning God’s Gift

In Romans 6, the apostle Paul talks about the difference between being slaves to sin and slaves to righteousness. He concludes in verse 23 writing, For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23) God’s gift is eternal life in Christ.

Why would anyone want to return such a valuable gift? This is one you can’t even possibly put a price tag on. And yet, when people leave the faith, they are doing exactly that! Some will state that they are still Christians because they still believe in God and Jesus but that isn’t enough. If you leave the church, you leave the body of Christ (Col. 1:18; Eph. 1:22-23).

Returning to The World

Leaving the church means you’re returning to The World, the very place you escaped when you first became a Christian. The apostle John had warned us about the world in his first letter, Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world–the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life–is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever. (1 John 2:15-17) If you love the world, again, you no longer love the Father.

Jesus said the very same thing, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” (Matthew 6:24)

There are people who try to do both, but you can’t. If you only have one foot in the kingdom, it’s the same as having both feet in the world.

Returning to Sin

After returning God’s gift and then returning to the world, you also return to sin. The desires of this world are at your beck and call.

The writer of Hebrews states, For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame. (Hebrews 6:4-6)

The desire to repent is lost on these individuals because they assume that God will still accept them as long as “they don’t do anything REALLY sinful”. The apostle Peter warned of such behavior, For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: “A dog returns to his own vomit,” and, “a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire.” (2 Peter 2:20-22)

Basically, what Peter is saying is, ‘Why become a Christian in the first place if the desire of the world is more favorable?’ That’s why you have brethren to lean on if times get tough. Talk to them before you decide to call it quits.

Conclusion

Paul wrote to the church in Corinth, Therefore “Come out from among them And be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, And I will receive you.” (2 Corinthians 6:17) Being separate means putting the worldly things behind and leaving them there in the past. Don’t turn your back on God to return to the world.

As Jesus said, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:62) Keep your eyes ahead and continue to strive for the prize (Phil. 3:14).