~~FALLING AWAY~~

-"That day shall not come, except there come a falling away first."
--(2 Thessalonians 2:3) -

--How serious are we about our goal of reaching Heaven? Some people appear to go through life in a rather lighthearted manner, as if they expect God to overlook their careless attitude. But Jesus said that we should "strive to enter in at the strait gate" (Luke 13:24). Even after doing everything God has commanded, we should still consider ourselves unprofitable servants because we have done only what is our duty (Luke 17:10). Clearly, we need to put earnest effort into faithfully serving God.

Do we really want to get to Heaven safely? How can we achieve that goal? We need to do as Paul wrote in Philippians 2:12: "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." This is just the opposite of living in a casual and careless way. Beloved brethren and sisters, our life is very serious. We go through it only once and then comes the Judgment. On that day we will not be able to explain away our negligence, and it will be forever too late to change anything.

Today's key verse says that the day of the Lord will not come "except there come a falling away first." What is this falling away? What must we do to avoid being part of it? One important thing is to repent of any sin as soon as we become aware of it. Another is to do as Peter urged in 2 Peter 3:17-18: "Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness. But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." The Lord Jesus has abundant power to keep us from falling. ~~

Beloved, we must draw close to God in these end-times. "It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him." -[2 Timothy 2:11~]
--'Beside Still Waters'=FLB~
--"None But Jesus"// Darlene Zschech (Hillsong/ lyrics) <https://youtu.be/WYLmD4-GRcw>
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