We see people come and go with depressing regularity. It never becomes less hurtful when it happens. One of the ways we try to protect ourselves when we see these things happening is to become hard-hearted. I just won’t welcome the next guy, I won’t open up to them so then it will hurt less when they leave. The problem is, the next person might be the genuine one the Lord is working in. You might have dealt with 99 chancers who all showed great promise and then upped and left, but the 100th might be the one who repents, believes and begins producing fruit.

Church can be a very dispiriting place sometimes. Just this week I was speaking with someone about yet another person who had professed faith and seemed to be seeking to engage the gospel who then turned round and jacked it all in. Our church has also seen a fair share of Iranian brother and sisters join with us who, for a range of different reasons, end up drifting away. 

These things can be quite discouraging when we see them happen again and again. The question is, how do we respond to them? What should we think about it? Here are some key things to bear in mind.

Jesus told us to expect it

This is the key thing to remember. In his parable of the sower, Jesus tells us that gospel seed goes out and there are all manner of people who do not respond to it. Some never accept it, some accept it for a time and drift away and other appear to accept it but produce no fruit. Jesus seemed to be preparing us for this reality; it is a normal part of gospel work.

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