It was the apostle Paul who wrote ,'I have finished the race' (2 Timothy 4 v 7),and it was our Saviour on the cross who cried ,'It is finished'( John 19 v30) When it comes to the Christian life it is important, I would say vital to continue in the faith,I know so many people and they gave up following Jesus,The term backslider is what they are called,they once ran well,but there was a time when they stopped running and turned back. One of the companions who went with Christian (in Pilgrims progress) on their way to the celestual city,Ignorance turned back when he was so near to entering into the city Christian declared,' Then I saw that there was a way to hell,even from the gates of heaven,as well as from the City of destruction!'Lots wife looked back and she perished,so it is if we turn back we will be lost. In Matthew 24 v 13 we read,'But the one who stands firm to the end will be saved'.The question we may ask ,were they not Christians?did not Jesus say.'I give thm eternal life and they shall never perish'(John 10 v28) So why did our Saviour say what He did? because their will be those who like Judas who was a disciple yet was not a true believer.It is John in his first epistle who writes as regards those who turned away from Christ,'They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. for if they had belonged to us,they would have remained with us; But their going showed that none of them belonged to us.' I would just add the backslider can be restored if they turn back to God , I did.(1 v 19).Sir Walter Raleigh prayed the following prayer.
'O Lord God ,when you give your servants to endeavour any great matter,
grant us also to know that it is not the beginning but the continuing of the
same to the end, until it be thoroughly finished,which yields the true glory;
through him who for the finishing of your work,laid down his life,our
redeemer,Jesus Christ.'
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