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"It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God" (Mk.10:25). This is because he has such confidence in his money to handle every situation that he does not see any need for God. It is difficult for him to imagine that there are things that are beyond him and that his life itself is dependent on God. But until he comes to see that he is really so small that before God he is nothing, he will not reach out to God.

It is not just wealth that gives such feelings to people. Awareness of their intelligence, position, power, name, etc., can do the same thing. Think of how educated, intelligent men consider themselves to be capable of thinking their way through any challenge that comes their way. When they look back at the way they have been able to handle things in the past, they feel confident that they can manage things. They too do not reach out to God.

A part of this confidence is about their understanding of God. Based on the exposure they have had and the thoughts they have spent on this subject, they think they have got God figured out. Even many Christian intellectuals fall into this category. The result is that they are not seeking after God, wanting to know Him better, checking out their own understanding, etc. They don't read the Bible much because they think they already know it enough, they are not regular at church because they think they know exactly what to expect, and now they are into looking at other religions, philosophical positions, arguments against the Bible, etc., seeking to expand the horizon of their knowledge. But they are stagnating spiritually, and they do not realise that under the pressure that is coming on them from every side to compromise their faith, they are in great danger of backsliding.

"But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron" (1Ti.4:1,2). The second part tells us how Christian preachers are themselves becoming influenced in their preaching when their eyes are set towards bigger churches, greater collection, best-seller books, TV shows, etc., and become no more constrained to keep strictly to the truth in their preaching.

Whether we are preachers or listeners, don't we need to go earnestly after the knowledge of God and His truths, rather than the latest fashions in doctrines? We will do that when we are not oozing with self-confidence, but we recognise our fallenness, the smallness of our knowledge, our gullibility, and the crookedness of deceiving spirits to lead us astray.

If we want to get closer to God day by day in our personal life and to understand His ways better and more clearly, there is no other way than to spend time and energy seeking them (2Pe.3:17,18). We may be backsliding without realising it.

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