I know that for every good a person does, there seems to be someone standing in the wings to point out the bad. I look to the much good that Ray Comfort does, and I will quote him much in this section ...and I would think he'd be in favor of me doing so.

In Ray Comfort's book, Hell's Best Kept Secret, he talks about how he not only felt led by the commission to tell others about Jesus ... he would feel a sense of responsibility for their personal growth.  He said he looked at figures which stated that only one fifth of the new believers would be able to withstand the temptations or maintain beyond the mere emotion to a level of commitment of endurance within the faith...or as he put it, 80% would backslide.

He compared himself to a 'Gestapo-type' evangelist, yet he was sincere. It took some time, but eventually he realized the error of his questioning methods towards those he felt were possible suspects of backsliding ...weakening in their commitment. It's as if we think the bright lights of the truth bearing down on them will get them to fully confess with extreme brokenness ...our perceived signs of sorrow and remorsefulness. 

Yes, we sincerely don't want to see anyone backslide.  If we take someone to rehab to help them overcome a drug addiction, and they appear to do well for a while ...of course, we are saddened when they fall back into drugs.  The same holds true for someone going to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, showing signs of success or victory ...only to fall back into habitual drinking again.  And a smoker who leaves the hospital. The doctor warns them that likely they will have little chance of living much longer if they don't give up the smoking ...yet, merely a few days pass, and they fail in their attempt to try to overcome all the stress surrounding their condition.

We all sin ...and most of our sin is of the repetitive nature. We don't have to go out and find new sins, the old ones are usually quite effective.  The point is, none of us are immune to sin.

We all have our struggles, we all have our difficulties, and we all fail to cope with perfection. That is also saying we all fail to perfectly cope with the truth of the One who is perfect ...and we fail to realize our role with Him.

Jesus tells us, "Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves."

If not done in the pure spirit of what Jesus would intend us to do, we are not doing it in the spirit of how he'd have us be used by Him. And why is it that we view certain things as intolerable to us, and we approach those situations with a firm hand ...yet, we fully look to God's forgiveness when we sin, looking for God's grace and a gentle loving hand??

We all have our moments in life ...it is not a steady progression of growth.

• If we are raised with what most people would call Christian values ...those values may stay with us for a period of time. There may be moments of disillusionment ...the foundations of what we know to be true, of Jesus having died for our sins has never departed from us, but we may gravitate towards some other ideas that may be a departure from what we had once believed.  Never do we depart from the truth of salvation through Jesus ...but perhaps others may perceive something quite different.
• If we get involved at a very young age in substance abuse, and our relationships are not very solid ...it could take years, sometimes involving many relationships and perhaps also involving children, before life comes full circle and it dawns on us that we really need a Savior. At this moment we accept Jesus into our life, yet also knowing that though simple as that is, we have lots of things we'd like to change in our lives.
• We go to college, and the flood of knowledge & ideas has a tendency to overwhelm us. As a Christian we get labeled, and are told we are ignoring science. If we choose our faith, that is our right, though we should also understand we need to accept everyone else's too. And absolutely, those faith views should not interfere with, nor challenge science ...and its intellectual data.  In order to succeed in this world, we have to keep pace with new discoveries and the acceptance of what understanding is presented to us.
• Or we may ask, as Ray Comfort did, "What was the problem?  The sinner was 100% sincere --he sincerely wanted  the love, joy, peace, happiness, and fulfillment that supposedly comes from being a Christian. His response was merely a test to see if the claims were true." And Ray cited that much of the problem was that we Christians only present part of what we read of our faith ...sort of like an advertisement for a medicine, without listing that you must take it with food. There'd be no contraindications if you take it as prescribed, but you feel a bit like something is wrong. (http://ifitdrownsyoucannolongerleadit.blogspot.com/2016/03/blog-post_13.html)

No, it is not a steady progression of growth ...and we may have our doubting, searching, and researching during any moment in our life. Whether young, middle aged, or old ...it is not a defined age to God, though it may be a defining moment to us.

Some of us go through periods of questioning what this is all about.  What is the purpose of life?  And if we are clear on the overall purpose, we may not be clear on the specifics. 

It is good to attempt to improve upon our lives ...so, being content may not seem to be growth to us. But, that is quite different from being discontent. A person may be focused on the job and raising a family ...with the beginnings of both, and clearly what is certain to be priorities. Yet, when the family is raised and the job is secure ...many of us ask ourselves what is next in life. And we may ask, "Isn't there more to life?"

Certainly we know there is always more to God than we can ever experience in a lifetime ...and it is good to make it a goal to get closer to God.  What happens sometimes is what I will call a spiritual mid-life crisis. I don't call it that because it is a crisis ...but, I refer to it that way because it has so many common beginning traits to the more common mid-life crisis that is usually described.  When you are looking for more ...there are usually ample entities eager to peddle their uniqueness. 

Whether it's the tune I remember by Waylon Jennings, or the one sung by Johnny Lee, the lyrics are about the same:

Playing a fools game, hoping to win
Telling those sweet lies and losing again.

I was looking for love in all the wrong places
Looking for love in too many faces
Searching your eyes, looking for traces
Of what.. I'm dreaming of...

And it's much the same with a spiritual mid-life crisis, though in other ways it's not the same.  The common mid-life crisis is one that overwhelms, knowing it is wrong to be struggling through many of the things that carry us down the stream. But, spiritually, we often feel we are on a path to improve our life ...especially when we know our society is slipping, and we struggle with the world around us. We feel we are returning to our first love ...which we feel is God.  

God is ...Love.

That is a basic truth ...so, how do we build upon that?? We can read of many more truths, and we can be taken in by sweet lies too. We begin looking for love in the faces of so many professed truths. Yet, they can mostly be in many wrong places.

And who is really to say??

I've often wondered about that.  I go to Bible studies ...and I'm surrounded by people who say they read their Bible each day. Some even memorize verses ...and they do very well in a discussion.  I appreciate these people, and they encourage and uplift me. What I wonder about is the wisdom of God's design for us ..to grow in knowledge of Him and to be witnesses, teachers, and friends.  We have life experiences to share ...and we've discussed most every subject we can imagine.  Then we get old.

I've always heard people say they don't mind getting old, because it beats the alternative ...dying. So, most people understand the usual pattern to our life. We get old ...and when we get old, as God designed it to be, we often can't read for very long without falling asleep. We forget where we put our glasses, while they are on the top of our head ...and we forget a good percentage of things.  We certainly can't remember many verses.  If we try to have an intellectual conversation, we forget where we were going with where we were going. And what kind of witness are we?? Most people just witness us getting old, and more feeble by the day.  It seems the attention we get is mostly obligatory. 

So, all those things we believed in ...and all the stimulating spiritual conversations, where are they now??  If we believe in Jesus ...we can have some quiet peace, and simple recollection.  But, we don't remember a lot of the other stuff ...for all we know, we believed in some rather silly stuff.  But, often when we want to grasp onto something firm, instead we become weaker ...we are getting a bit more paranoid, and maybe we begin to think we saw something out of our bedroom window. Perhaps it is a flying saucer, and just maybe the aliens have decided we are not properly protecting our earth, so they are taking the pyramids back.

So, why does it all happen like this??

Perhaps it is because others have to be given a chance to learn about Love.  Maybe it brings others to do things they are not thrilled about doing ...visiting us in a nursing home. Of course, in old times perhaps we'd still be in the home, but we'd rather be in the nursing home, because we know they'd rather we be there ...and the last thing we want to be is an imposition. Sitting at our bedside causes them to think in the silence, as we keep nodding off. Of course, it is their choice why they are there. They may keep looking at their watch, or waiting for a nurse to come by ...to perform some routines, and provide a convenient opportunity for a goodbye.  Or it could be that they are there because they realize what all of this is doing in their life ...as they are learning more about His Love. They have said it over and over again ...but now it begins to reach ever greater depths of what we may never have had the opportunity to experience.

So, when we get old ...we would hope we've already shared enough with others of who we are ...and more importantly, who He is.  At an old age, and in a nursing home, we may only have the basic belief in God, and our belief that Jesus died for us ...yet, there may be moments where we wonder about Him forsaking us with this declining health of ours, but we know we should have expected it, and certainly we expect to meet Him in heaven soon.