Apostasy! Having Gone Astray?

Apostasy! Having Gone Astray?

Jesus was also accused of having gone astray. And He had also done that! But from what had He gone astray, and from whom had He gone astray? This is precisely the crucial question. But “there is no disgrace in a name.” Well, Jesus had (for instance) gone astray from the Pharisees and the scribes! He had gone astray from those who always worshiped God with their lips and by tithing for God’s cause, among other things, but whose hearts were far from Him. He was an apostate to all those who did not have a living interest in the weightier matters of the law, such as justice, mercy, and faithfulness.

Have we then gone astray? Whatever you say! Call it whatever you want as long as it is understood in the right way. As far as I am concerned, I have to thank and praise God for time and eternity that I went very far astray, even unspeakably far away from going with the flow, far from the way of sin; away from the apostasy of Balaam and from the rebellion of Korah; away from false liberty and away from the Great Harlot as well as from the small ones; away from nominal Christianity; away from superficiality; away from hypocrisy, away from considering the preaching of God’s Word as a way of making a living or a means of gain; away from seeking to please men; away from weakening the truth in order to gain more followers and thereby greater honor and income; away from seeking comfort and a good life; away from a luxurious life and ostentation; away from ruling over souls; away from factionalism and coining of names; away from the love of money and anxiety; away from imagining and causing others to imagine that I do not have sin in the flesh—even far away from this misery that every person is bound to by nature until he has consciously overcome it.

And where did I stray to? Where did I end up?

With my flesh I landed on the cross of Christ and held firmly to it in days of prosperity and adversity by nails of faith. And with my quickened spirit I have been—also by faith—sat in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, our precious Savior and High Priest, God’s beloved Son from eternity, who became like us in flesh and blood so that we could become like Him in spirit and in truth! Glory be to His holy, great, and wonderful name!!!

That is where I have strayed to by God’s unspeakably great grace and goodness! That is where I can be found! By God’s grace, which is new every morning, I plan on never returning from there. On the contrary! I have forever gone astray! I have strayed inexorably and incorrigibly. Instead of becoming “better,” by God’s grace I hope to become “worse and worse.”

Glory to God! I have “completely worn out my shoes.” I don’t own any “shoes” in which to go back. If this is going astray, then I have really gone astray. Then it is wonderful to go astray. Then the love of Christ compels me to wish that every person might go astray as quickly as possible! My sincere greetings to all like-minded people along with loving greetings to otherwise-minded ones, with a desire to meet as soon as possible with the same mind and spirit, in Jesus Christ our only Lord and ruler.