Is it okay to take a break from Christianity and come back to it when I feel my faith is real?

Answer Request:
Is it okay to take a break from Christianity and come back to it when I feel my faith is real?

There is so much to say in answering this question. In short, as a believer, you are not under law, but under grace. God is not holding a sword to your neck. He gives you liberty to live your life as you choose. God is not going to punish you if you sin. Punishment and grace are opposed to each other. What will come to you is consequences. This is not by God’s hand, but simply a universal law of what you sow you reap! If you choose to go out sinning, you will reap the consequences of those actions. If you abuse substances, you will have to live with the consequences of the overdose and the results of your actions while in that state.

Your question is an interesting one, but we have to look at it from a different angle. —If you are truly saved, you are changed from the inside. Your heart is changed and the motivation to take a break from Christianity, or delve into the world and its pleasures, will not really be there! Of course you can choose to go there, but you will not find it as fulfilling as it used to be. So what really happens when you get saved, and if you are saved and then purposefully go back to the world or "backslide" (for lack of a better term), does God take you back? Let me answer these in a bit more detail below.

First, our sanctification (being made pure, being set apart) is our secure, and true standing before God, "in Christ". This is our positional sanctification … "being in Christ". So, every true believer in Christ has already been sanctified, or made pure to God, by the work of Christ and the operation of the Holy Spirit the moment we were saved.

2 Thessalonians 2:13 But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth,

1 Corinthians 6:11 ...and such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.

Secondly, we express practical sanctification in our daily walk as Christians, learning and living the Word, trusting Christ as He leads us on a path towards ever increasing purity; dying to ourselves and giving ourselves over to love and service in the Body. Unlike positional sanctification of our spirit, this practical sanctification is a daily progressive process, maintained by a close relationship and submission to His indwelling Spirit.

1 Thessalonians 4:3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; 4 that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honour, 5 not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God; 6 ... 7 For God did not call us unto uncleanness [impurity], but unto holiness. 8 Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit.

But what happens if we ignore that practical sanctification? What if we go out and live it up in the world after we are saved?

As a grace believer, that is, if you have heard and responded in faith to the grace gospel, your sins are removed from you and placed upon the body and cross of Jesus Christ. In other words, Jesus took the blame for every sin you commit and it was placed upon Him as if He was the one who did the sin. This is why God, who cannot look upon sin (Hab.1:13), forsook Jesus and left Him alone at the cross. Remember, on the cross Jesus cried out "My God, why have you forsaken me!" (Matt.27:45-46)

It's a sobering thought to understand that your sin, whether you fall in moments of weakness, or choose to do it, is placed on Christ and that He suffered the wrath of God for you.

So, the bottom line is that those sins are not counted against you today. This is the absolute marvel of God's GRACE! You will not suffer the consequences of the sins you commit because Christ already suffered for it on your behalf. God took your sins and placed it upon Christ, and then took Christ's righteousness and placed it upon you. This substitution is absolute and all sufficient to appease God's holiness and free you of your sins and its resulting consequences. Thinking anything less would be a faithless disregard of the completeness and finality of Christ's sacrifice and of God's love for His Son and for you.

Romans 4:8 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.

2 Corinthians 5:19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.

The above will clarify your eternal security in Christ, however, there are still consequences to mention, but these are of your own doing and not of the 'eternal kind'! The consequences you will suffer is the results of your actions here on earth. For example, if you choose to steal, then you will get arrested and imprisoned. If you harm someone, they might come back and harm you. If you abuse substances, then your body will suffer. These are consequences based directly off your own choices and actions and is not what God places upon you to judge you or pay you back for disobedience. God does not hold a constant sword over your head. He has already freed you from the eternal consequences of sin, but the temporary consequences of your fleshly behaviour is of your own doing and part of the natural cycle of reaping what you sow.

God's grace is greater than our sins. The blood of Christ and His imputed righteousness is greater than our sin. God sees us through Christ and even though we live in an imperfect world, we are already perfect in His presence because of Christ's sacrifice for us.

Does this give us license to sin? Absolutely not! Does this give us power over the flesh here on earth? No! Our salvation is positional (or in spirit) and does not change our current flesh condition. We are still sinners, who are waiting for our glorified state. Will we ever be perfect in this world? No! We are born into sin. But, through salvation, we have become a new creature within (2 Cor.5:17), and it is this new creature what will start to hunger after God, and seek out truth, and desire righteousness.

What does God expect of us while we wait for our complete redemption from this state? That we give in to the desires of the inner man (Eph.3:16) and the leading of the Spirit of Life within us, Rom.12:1-2. God's will for us is that we fill our hearts and minds with His living Word. That we follow our heart and live godly lives, 1 Tim.2:3-4. That we aim to be an example for others to follow, 1 Tim.4:12. That we train our bodies to submit to the Spirit, 1 Tim.4:7. That we remain faithful to Him as we wait in daily expectation for the return of Christ to redeem us in full, (Rom.8:23; 1 Cor.1:7; Gal.5:5; 1 Thess.1:10; 2 Thess.3:5).