ALMOST PERSUADED BUT LOST!

It was a defining moment for the two young widows: a critical time to decide whether to move forward in the journey or turned back to where they have left behind. These young widows had both left the known for the unknown; certainty for uncertainty; the visible for the invisible. But their decision must be tested to reveal its genuineness and to prove whether they were fully or partially persuaded.

Ruth and Orpah were the young Moabite’s widows who had both decided to follow their mother-in-law-Naomi from Moab to Bethlehem. Both of them had unanimously told their mother-in-law, “…Surely we will return with thee unto thy people.” But this joint decision must soon be passed through the testing tube of separation in order to check the individuality of their conviction. The wheat must be separated from the chaff by the test of conviction. As they progressed a little further in the journey, Naomi stops them and confronted them with the implications of their joint decision:

“And Naomi said, Turn again, my daughters: why will you go with me? Are there yet any more sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands? Turn again, my daughters, go your way; for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say, I have hope, if I should have a husband also tonight, and should also bear sons; would ye tarry for them till they were grown? Would ye stay for them from having husbands? Nay, my daughters; for it grieveth me for your sakes that the hand of the LORD is gone out against me. And they lifted up their voice, and wept again: and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law; but Ruth clave unto her” (Ruth 1:11-14)

After the joint decision of Ruth and Orpah was passed through the separation funnel of testing, the genuineness of their individual conviction was revealed. The test revealed that Orpah’s decision was not her personal decision but a decision influenced by Ruth in order to impress her mother-in-law. It was fake, spurious and lacking in the substance of conviction. The implications of the choice she had earlier made were too much for her to bear. She did not see any reason or gain that should warrant her holding on to such a choice. Yes, she wept, but she still turned back. She drew close to her mother-in-law and gave her a parting kiss. Orpah was an almost-persuaded pilgrim. But like King Agrippa in the New Testament, she was almost-persuaded but lost! She turned back and was never remembered again! Note, a congregational decision cannot go far and should not be fully trusted until it becomes a personal decision. A congregational decision can only be trusted if it is as a result of cumulative individual convictions.

“…but Ruth clave unto her”. Ruth seems to have a different conviction different from Orpah. But Naomi would not still be satisfied with that. She wants to be really sure Ruth’s decision was not out of pity for her. She must truly be convinced of what she was doing because it would take true conviction to pull through on any decision. So Naomi turns again to Ruth and said, “Behold, thy sister-in-law is gone back unto her people, and unto her gods: return thou after thy sister-in-law. And Ruth said, entreat me not to leave thee, r to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the Lord do so to me, and more also if aught but death part thee and me. When she saw that she was steadfastly minded to go with her, then she left speaking unto her. So they two went on till they came to Bethlehem” (Ruth 1:15-19).

Ruth conviction to follow Naomi was put through another level of test. Now the test contained the visible example of her sister-in-law who had turn back. But her conviction still survived another harder level of testing. She was steadfastly minded to follow. Her mind was fully made up. In her mind, she had already burned the bridge behind. No amount of persuasion or intimidation from Naomi could be strong enough to dissuade her from going further in the journey. Ruth was an altogether persuaded follower of God! And of such belong the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God Is not for the almost persuaded followers. See the response of Jesus to a man who wanted to follow but not ready to pay the price: “And another also said, Lord, I will follow Thee: but let me first go and bid them farewell, which are at home at my house. And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:61-62).

Your Conviction Will Be Tested!

Are you a follower of God who has left Egypt for Canaan? Have you bid bye to the world system to gain the Celestial City? Have you placed your faith and hope in Jesus to gain the eternal life which He alone offers? If you have set your feet on God’s road that leads to the land of eternal delight, then be sure that your choice and decision will surely be tested. Only the tried, tested and triumphant people will inherit God’s best. This is because God’s best and rest are not just available for pick up by any unserious people. The test of God is what truly reveals whether we are fully persuaded of the choice we have made to follow God.

Abraham Was Tested.

When Abraham left the land of his nativity to follow God in order to inherit God’s promise, his decision to follow God was tested by a prolonged delay. He had to wait for twenty-five solid years before he could receive the promise. That was not a joke at all. One of God’s hottest heat of testing is waiting. Very few saints have waited successfully. Waiting is not easy. Those who have been there can testify. But Abraham was a man of full conviction. This is the testimony of the Scripture about his conviction.

“Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations; according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about a hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara’s womb: He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform” (Romans 4:18-21 KJV).

And being fully persuaded… Only a fully persuaded person can hold on to a promise for twenty-five solid years! Only the fully persuaded can follow God through thick and thin. Only the fully persuaded can stand the test of time and enter into their promised inheritance.

Job Was Tested.

Job was also a man whose conviction in God was tested. His conviction was tested in long-suffering. Job suffered the loss of beautiful children, prosperous business and good health in rapid succession. But his conviction survived this harrowing experience because he was an all-together-persuaded follower of God. His wife counselled him to give up his conviction in God in other to hasten his death and be free from pain, but the pain was too small to stand in the way of Job’s conviction. Note: Nothing can stand in the way of genuine conviction. No! Not pain, not suffering, not death. Here is the testimony to the genuineness and validity of the conviction of Job in his God:

“Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? Curse God, and die. But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips” (Job 2:9-10 KJV)

“Though he slays me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him. He also shall be my salvation: for a hypocrite shall not come before him”   Job 13:15-16 KJV

That was the confession of a fully persuaded follower of God. Job lost his possessions and family during the period of the tests, but he reacted rightly toward God by acknowledging God’s Sovereign authority over everything God had given him. Satan was defeated. Job passed the test and proved that people can love God for Who He is, not for what He gives.

Daniel Was Tested.

While in the land of Babylon, Daniel arrived at a junction in his life when he had to choose between his safety and his faith in the God of Israel. But thanks be to God that the trying of his faith was found to the honour and praise of God! His enemies out of envy conspired against him and moved the king to sign an irrevocable decree that no man should pray unto any other God but to the king.

“Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime. Then these men assembled and found Daniel praying and making supplication before his God. Then they came near, and spake before the king concerning the king’s decree; Hast thou not signed a decree, that every man that shall ask a petition of any God or man within thirty days, save of thee, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions? The king answered and said, The thing is true, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not. Then answered they and said before the king, That Daniel, which is of the children of the captivity of Judah, regardeth not thee, O king, nor the decree that thou hast signed, but maketh his petition three times a day. Then the king, when he heard these words, was sore displeased with himself, and set his heart on Daniel to deliver him: and he labored till the going down of the sun to deliver him. Then these men assembled unto the king, and said unto the king, Know, O king, that the law of the Medes and Persians is, That no decree nor statute which the king establisheth may be changed. Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel and cast him into the den of lions. Now the king spake and said unto Daniel, Thy God whom thou servest continually, he will deliver thee. And a stone was brought and laid upon the mouth of the den; and the king sealed it with his own signet, and with the signet of his lords; that the purpose might not be changed concerning Daniel. Then the king went to his palace and passed the night fasting: neither were instruments of music brought before him: and his sleep went from him. Then the king arose very early in the morning and went in haste unto the den of lions. And when he came to the den, he cried with a lamentable voice unto Daniel: and the king spake and said to Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God, whom thou servest continually, able to deliver thee from the lions?  Then said Daniel unto the king, O king, live forever. My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions’ mouths, that they have not hurt me: forasmuch as before him innocency was found in me; and also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt. Then was the king exceeding glad for him, and commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no manner of hurt was found upon him because he believed in his God. And the king commanded, and they brought those men which had accused Daniel, and they cast them into the den of lions, them, their children, and their wives; and the lions had the mastery of them, and brake all their bones in pieces or ever they came at the bottom of the den. Then king Darius wrote unto all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth; Peace be multiplied unto you. I make a decree, That in every dominion of my kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel: for he is the living God, and steadfast forever, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed, and his dominion shall be even unto the end. He delivereth and rescueth, and he worketh signs and wonders in heaven and in earth, who hath delivered Daniel from the power of the lions. So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius, and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian” (Daniel 6: 10-KJV).

What a testimony! What a triumph of faith! What a conviction! May the Lord raise men and women of conviction for this generation; men who through their unflinching conviction can bring glory to the name of God. This nation and the world at large need committed followers of God who will not compromise their convictions in the face of pain or pleasure. Only such species of people can bring honor to the name of Jesus. Our religious cathedrals are filled with too many unpersuaded Christians, it’s why we are very weak though many.

Apostle Paul Was Tested.

Paul the Apostle was one notable New Testament example of an all-together-persuaded Christian. His decision to abandon family and tribal religion in order to embrace and serve the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ was sorely tested. But he was too persuaded to be convinced otherwise. Listen to the confession of a fully persuaded follower and minister of Jesus:

“Of the Jews, five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is offended, and I burn not? If I must need glory, I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is blessed for evermore, knoweth that I lie not. In Damascus the governor under Aretas the king kept the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desirous to apprehend me: And through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall, and escaped his hands” (2 Cor 11:24-33 KJV)

“But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24 KJV)

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Rom. 8:35-39 KJV

Single-mindedness is a quality needed by anyone who wishes to follow God and do His work. Paul was a single-minded, fully persuaded follower and servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is no wonder that Paul was the greatest missionary who ever lived. God is looking for more men and women who are all-together persuaded in following and serving God.

Are You Fully Persuaded?

Christian! Are you truly persuaded? Did you truly believe on the Lord? Are you fully and truly convinced in Jesus as the ONLY LORD AND SAVIOUR? Do you believe in the FULL INSPIRATION of the Scriptures? Are you willing and ready to sacrifice anything or anybody that stands in the way of your conviction in God? Are you an almost-persuaded Christian or an all-together persuaded Child of God? How long can you hold to your godly convictions without compromise under pressure? Partially persuaded People give up on their convictions in the face of opposition, suffering, and denials. Has your faith in Christ been tested? It will surely be! An untested conviction cannot be trusted. If God must build anything eternal on your life, and project you for men, angels, and demons to see, then he must allow your conviction to be tested. Heaven cannot build anything meaningful on any conviction that is not tested. Even Jesus the Son of God was not spared in this!

“Therefore, thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a TRIED Stone, a precious Cornerstone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste” (Isaiah 28:16).

“Though he was a Son, yet learned obedience by the things which he suffered; and having been made perfect, he became unto all them that obey him the author of eternal salvation” (Heb 5:8-9).  

To be fully persuaded is to be ready to follow God through thick and thin; come rain come sunshine; on the mountain top of success and in the low valley of failure. To be fully persuaded is to hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering or compromise in this present evil world. To be fully persuaded is to be ready to earnestly contend for the faith that was once delivered unto the saints. To be fully persuaded is to be ready to die for our convictions in the Word of God!

Are you fully persuaded? God’s tests will surely reveal that!

May the trying of your faith be found to the praise and honor of Jesus Christ!

I call you blessed!