What if you walk away from God?

Quick Answer: God has promised to never leave you or forsake you (Hebrews 13:5). But that’s God’s end of the bargain, right? What if you walk away from God? Many Christians worry about this perceived possibility. If you’re the new self with a new heart, then you’re a “slave of righteousness” (Romans 6:18). You have an undying love for Jesus (Ephesians 6:24), and you’ll never want to walk away from God. Even if you thought you could, God goes with you wherever you might go, because Christ lives in you forever (Romans 8:38-39).

Diving Deeper: “Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love” (Ephesians 6:24). Paul concludes his letter to the Ephesians by saying we believers have an undying, incorruptible love for God. Where did we get this love? Romans 5:5 tells us: “God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” Our love for God is the love that God placed within us. We love, because He first loved us (1 John 4:19).

Peter describes “an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in Heaven for you” (1 Peter 1:4). Furthermore, Hebrews tells us, “He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, because He always lives to intercede for them” (Hebrews 7:25). How long will we be saved? Hebrews 7 says that, as long as Jesus lives to intercede for us, we are saved. Therefore, we are saved completely and forever.

So, can you walk away from God? If you’re born again, you have a new self and a new heart (Romans 6:17; Ezekiel 11:19), and Jesus came to live in your new heart. Romans 6:17 says, “Thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you became obedient from the heart” (Romans 6:17). Your new-hearted self will never want to walk away from God.

Paul writes, “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6). Hebrews says Jesus is “the Author and Perfecter of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2). You don’t want to walk away, and you never will, because Jesus Himself sustains you. And wherever you go, there He is – with you and in you, always and forever.

Let’s Make It a Conversation!
1. React to this false statement: God will never leave you, but you might leave Him.
2. Why is it impossible to walk away from God? Explain as many reasons as you can.
3. Which is a more compelling reason – your new heart that always desires God or God’s promise to never leave you?