Am I still a believer?

Maybe you knew someone who was really excited about their walk with God in college, and now they are living far from God. In fact, their life is a mess. By their own admission, they don’t want anything to do with God.

Are they still a believer?

Honestly, I’m not sure. But here are some possibilities:

• It is possible that your friend made a false profession. Maybe their profession was based on peer pressure, or it was a hoop to jump through for them to get married. Maybe they were just a short-term enthusiast. But if there was no root, there couldn’t be any life. Jesus tells us about these types of people:

The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away. The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful.
-Matthew 13:20-22

• Maybe they were just playing the game because of tradition; they were expected to act like a Christian, so they did. They were like the hypocritical Pharisees that Jesus encountered. Jesus said, “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men” (Matthew 15:9).

• Maybe it was just intellectual. They knew the facts about Jesus, but didn’t trust in Jesus. They missed having a relationship with Christ by about 12 inches (the distance from your head to your heart). James confronts these types of people: “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder” (James 2:19).

• They might have liked some guy/girl in a youth group or Christian organization.

• Maybe they liked some program that the church had… but they never trusted in Christ. John writes of those who stayed in the church for a while but ended up leaving. He concluded that:

They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.
– 1 John 2:19

People can show external, but not lasting, signs. Just think of Judas—one of Jesus’ own disciples who betrayed him for thirty silver coins.

• Maybe they were a child of God, but right now they are living like the Prodigal son. If that is the case, at some point, and I don’t know how long it will be—Jesus doesn’t give us a time frame in the Prodigal son story for a reason—but, at some point, they will come to their senses. Realizing who they are, where they are, and what they have done, they will get up from their sin, repent and return to the Father who will welcome them with open arms. In his Concise Theology, J. I. Packer writes about those with Prodigal-son-type behavior:

Sometimes they regenerate backslide and fall into gross sin. But in this they act out of character, do violence to their own nature, and make themselves deeply miserable, so that eventually they seek and find restoration to righteousness. In retrospect, their lapse seems to them to have been madness.

• You might know someone who prophesies or does miracles. That seems like a sure sign of salvation. Well, not according to Scripture:

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’”
– Matthew 7:21-23