I am the vine: you are the branches. The one who remains in Me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without Me. If anyone does not remain in Me, he is thrown aside like a branch and he withers. They gather them, throw them into the fire, and they are burned.     John 15:5-6 HCSB

Apostasy is defined as a falling away from Jesus, denying Jesus after having previously confessed Him as Lord, falling away from faith under persecution, denying the deity of Jesus, living a life of open sin that denies the faith and/or abandonment of the faith.

Our Scripture passage is just one of many that speaks of apostasy. It’s so easy to suffer from apostasy and not even know it. The devil is sneaky that way. This is why we are told in 1 Peter 5:8 to be sober and alert because the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. Don’t let it be you.

Often times we suffer trials and tribulations that bring us closer to Christ. Once the crisis is averted, we tend to fall away. It’s kind of like we are telling God, “That’s okay, I’ve got it from here.” And we go on living life as we please until the next crisis comes along.

When we face times of crisis our emotions tend to take over. Some of us are baptized for various reasons, but our emotions may lead to us wanting to be baptized. We may be baptized because we feel we are at the appropriate age. We may be baptized because we are trying to make a pastor happy or a family member happy.

Many believe that baptism equals salvation. We are told however in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth and the life and no man goes before the Father except through Me.” Jesus Christ is the one and only way to be truly saved. People often get baptized and think they are done. My friend, this is just the beginning. This is the point where we should begin to serve Christ and praise Him. This is the point where we should put Him first in our lives.

Maybe you were baptized, and you fell away and didn’t live as you should. Maybe you are suffering from apostasy. The good news is that it’s not too late to turn that around. It’s not too late to surrender your life to Him.

I use the term suffering from apostasy because if our hearts aren’t broken when we abandon our love for the Lord, we must question whether or not we were truly saved. We will suffer from our apostasy because it tells us in our Scripture passage that we must remain in Him and produce fruit.

If you aren’t sure that you are truly saved, inspect your fruit. Examine your relationship with Jesus Christ. Is He first in your life? Do you strive to live a life that pleases Him? Are you repentant over your sinful behavior?

We, like vines on a branch, must remain connected in order to survive and to avoid being thrown into the fire. Revelation 20:10 says, “The Devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet are, and they will be tormented day and night forever.” Verse 15 says, “Anyone not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.”

The devil will try to tell you because you were baptized, you are good to go. Baptism does not equate to salvation. It is a public profession of faith and symbolizes our death of our old sinful life and our resurrection to be a new creature in Christ. We must first be saved and then we get baptized to make that public profession.

If you have been on fire for Christ but your fire has burned out, relight it. God will help you do this, you only need to ask. Draw near to Him (James 4:8). Turn to Him today before it’s eternally too late.

Have a great day!