NEGLECT

Spiritual Neglect

“How shall we escape,
if we neglect so great salvation…”
Hebrews 2:3

When Jesus cried out on the cross “It is finished…” He was referring to the great price that was now paid to effect the reality of man being reconciled to God. The scripture declares that “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself.” Reconciliation is the beginning of a relationship, not the completion. How tragic and far reaching are the results of the “teachings” of this hour that declare “it is finished” in respect to our responsibility to the great salvation that has been so graciously and grievously given.

Teachings that simply state if you believe right then you must BE right for truth is simply a matter of belief. Simply embrace this teaching, believe a certain doctrine and you are eternally fit for heaven. James declares that even the “demons believe and shudder”. This is a relationship that has been offered at the expense of great suffering and unimaginable pain and contradiction by the precious Lamb of God. Truly, “How shall we escape, if we neglect” such a great salvation?

Neglect

The Greek Word translated here “neglect” is used six times in the New Testament. The truth of this statement declares emphatically that there is an effort and a responsibility entrusted to the people of God to be diligent and vigilant in their walk with the Almighty God. It is the same Greek word translated “made light” concerning the invitation to the marriage supper of the Lamb in Matthew 22:5.

“The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son, And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come. Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage. But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise”
Matthew 22:2 – 5

To make light of the call to come in this hour is to be a people who “… went their ways”.  This is neglect. When the truth and light of the Call of God does not alter our walk and cause us to forsake our ways then we are surely in the place of neglecting our salvation. If we are not in the place of obedience where the faith of God is producing a living sacrifice, where HIS LIFE is calling us out of our little sphere of comfort to launch out into the great cost of identification with HIM, this is neglect.

“It is no profit to have learned well,
if you neglect to do well”

See Related Post: Apathy and the Body of Christ

Brian Troxel