Tuesday, March 19, 2024
Sometimes you need to let go
It is hard to know when to let go of a relationship. Everyone knows stories of marriages where one mate keeps trying and trying to make the relationship work and the other has no interest. It is going to end and it is going to be painful. And if one of the mates is a believer, it is even harder. Because their spouse is endangering their soul.
Which leads to the point I really want to think about: when to let go of a spiritual relationship.
You cannot help someone who does not want to be helped. You cannot make someone believe. You cannot make someone live the way Jesus calls them to live.
It happens with new Christians. They are born again, but never put down solid roots and thus never mature spiritually. Often they just quit trying and fade back into their old life. So you visit, pray, beg, reason with, threaten, bribe. Well, you know how it goes.
But sometimes you have to let them go. I am not talking about those who are trying but find it hard. I will stay with them until the end. But the ones who I know are done. Maybe someone else will reach them. God will still seek them. But there is a time when the prodigal will not come home. When the lost sheep does not want to be found.
So I let them go. I will sometimes meet and tell them it certainly appears they have no interest in living the Jesus life. I will pray with them, tell them I will always help if the want to come back, and then let it go.
The same way I treat Christians who persist in doing things against the will of God. If they repent, and want to try, then I will do anything to help them. For as long as it takes. But I have found myself in situations where I came to realize there was no repentance, no desire to do better, and no intention of stopping what they are doing.
I try to meet and tell them what it looks like and ask if I am wrong. And then let it go.
I will do all I can to beg, persuade, convince people to follow Jesus. But sometimes the interest is just not there. Or the rejection becomes obvious. Let it go.
You cannot choose for them. You cannot make someone follow Jesus.
Do all you can for those seeking and trying.
But sometimes... you have to let them go.
