Why People Fall

Because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were they thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man–and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. – Romans 1:21-23

Why do people fall away from the knowledge of God? What happens that begins the process of ‘departing from the living God’? This passage tells us that those who turn from God to foolishness begin that slide by failing to glorify God and be thankful. It is a subtle shift that happens in the mind without much fanfare. The descent to apostasy doesn’t begin with something that someone does, but something they do not do. When one fails to give God the proper credit He deserves or fails to be thankful for what he has, he opens the door to foolish thoughts and mental darkness. It is easy to see how people in this state, who once knew God, come to deny Him. From there, they fall into all manner of corruption.

In this blog, I will seek to explain and prove the following:

Failure to acknowledge God’s glory and exercise thanksgiving leads to apostasy.
How we can guard against apostasy

Giving Glory to God

First, I will take up the importance of giving glory to God.

Giving glory to God is synonymous with giving Him honor or giving Him credit for what He has done. To glorify God is to say, “Lord, all things come from you, and any good that is accomplished is because of your mercies.” It is tempting for humans to be proud. We like to feel good about our accomplishments and receive the praise of men. And while a measured amount of praise is appropriate when honoring people, we must be careful to remember that all things come from God. For example, we may do great feats of strength or excel in athletics, but we must remember that it is only possible with the body God has given us, and the food He provides to nourish us. If we find ourselves with a sick body or a shortage of sustenance, we will soon find that we can do nothing without God. Or consider those who achieve greatness in academics, in science, and in the arts. We may develop our minds and our gifts, but we must remember why we have minds and abilities to begin with. They are the gifts of God. Humans are all too hasty to boast in their abilities, but we forget that they are gifts:

For who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it? – 1 Corinthians 4:7

Pride is the subtle sin of Satan. It often creeps in unaware. It says, “Look at what you have accomplished. Look how beautiful you are. Look how wise you are. Look how well you’ve done for yourself.” We must be quick to reflect that glory back to God and say, “Only with God’s help can I be or accomplish anything.”

We know that pride comes before destruction (Pro. 16:18). It doesn’t take too much searching of the scriptures to come up with examples of this. It was Satan who said to himself, “I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God” (Isa. 14:13). But God said, “You shall be brought down to Hell” (Isa. 14:15). As far as men go, we see the king of Babylon, who said, “Is not this great Babylon, that I have built…by my mighty power and for the honor of my majesty?” (Dan. 4:30). He was quickly stricken with madness and spent the next seven years eating grass like an ox.

I am convinced that many people fall from grace because of this very thing. Sometimes it is dramatic, other times it is subtle. I think of the famous YouTubers, Rhett and Link. I remember watching their videos many years ago, in the early years of YouTube, hearing that they were Christian creators. In fact, they had been campus missionaries. Their videos were funny and clean, but I wondered why they weren’t more overt about their faith. I didn’t follow them much over the years, but in 2020, they announced they were no longer Christians. What led to this? Could it be that they failed to glorify God properly in the gifts that they had? Were their hearts darkened because they did not honor God the way that they should have? We cannot know for certain, but according to scripture, this is certainly the case with some.

King Herod died because of this. When giving an oration to the people, they shouted, “The voice of a god and not of a man!” He was immediately struck by an angel. The bible says he was ‘eaten by worms and died.’ Why? “Because he did not give glory to God” (Acts 12:21-23).

If we don’t give glory to God, the One deserving of it, the glory doesn’t just fall to the ground; it goes somewhere. Usually, we apply it to ourselves. We will never experience God, nor receive answered prayers, nor have an enlightened mind, if we harbor pride in our hearts. God resists the proud (Jam. 4:6). In that darkness, men begin to think of themselves as wise. But they are foolish, too much so to realize it.

The surest way to stay in the faith is to regularly experience God. Sometimes we don’t know the answers to all the questions out there, for we are all learning. But we do know that we experience God, that His Spirit testifies to our hearts that we are His children. Sin blocks all of that. Pride can be a subtle sin that only God sees. A proud person is not always evident. That person may seem holy from our perspective, but God is repulsed by their inward thoughts. They will never experience God in that mindset. It’s no wonder so many leave the faith from that position.

Being Thankful

The second thing that precedes apostasy is ingratitude. Paul said, “Nor were they thankful.” Those who knew God began to fall because they failed to be thankful for what they had. This also is subtle. Those looking on the outside into our lives cannot immediately see the sin of ingratitude, but it is a grave sin. There is never a good reason to be ungrateful, no matter what our situation might be. An unthankful heart is a bitter and envious heart, or a heart filled with covetousness. Sinners have no right to think they deserve anything from God while they continue in their rebellion against God. We are called to repent and follow Christ, which will bring every spiritual blessing. But if a man persists in his sin, not fully submitting to God, his ingratitude only piles up his impending judgment. If you are a Christian, you certainly have no justification for ingratitude. We have been given all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus (Eph. 1:3). We are called to be content with what we have, which is Christ, the greatest treasure one could ever possess (Heb. 13:5).

Ingratitude is the invisible sin that is the beginning of many greater sins. Without thanksgiving in our hearts, there is a vacancy that is filled by complaints and envy. Without a thankful heart, desires brew for what one does not have. Perhaps if David were pouring out thanksgiving from his heart on his rooftop that day, he would not have looked a second time at Bathsheba. Perhaps if Solomon had contented himself with thanksgiving, he would not have married pagan wives. If Cain had been thankful instead of envious, he wouldn’t have murdered his brother. If Satan had been thankful, he wouldn’t have fallen from heaven.

Many people leave their spouses and children because of ingratitude in their hearts. They ceased to be thankful for the gifts God had given them. They will only have bitterness in the end. Many people doubt God’s goodness in times of trouble because they fail to give thanks. They fail to bless the Lord as Job did in his distress. God said that Job did not sin, but those who fail to be thankful sin. God will wrestle with those who struggle in their faith, as long as they can maintain a grateful heart. But ingratitude will push Him far away. The ungrateful person will not see Him.

Protection from Apostasy

The Bible repeatedly warns us to watch for our souls (e.g., Rev. 3:2-3). One way we do this is by being careful not to fail to give glory to God and to give Him thanks. Equipped with this knowledge, you can now counter the subtle tactics of the devil. When pride tries to enter your heart, you can say, “God gets all the glory for what He has done through me.” When difficult times arise, you can say, “God is still God. Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him.”And if you are tempted to be dissatisfied with the things that you have, you can say, “I deserve nothing and am thankful for everything. Get away from me, Satan, for I will not be rooming with you!”

Difficult times come for us all. Those who endure are those who can give thanks in the midst of the storm. There is always something to be thankful for as a Christian. Even if everything goes wrong that can possibly go wrong, we can still rejoice that our names are written in heaven. When things don’t go the way we want them to go, we can be bitter and envious, or we can be thankful. It’s a crossroad that all of us will meet many times in this life. We should make the decision ahead of time that we will be thankful in all things.

I n everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. – 1 Thessalonians 5:18

Conclusion

When we see someone fall from grace, it is sometimes dramatic. However, we should not be fooled into thinking that it happened suddenly. Small seeds of sin produce large trees, which, in turn, bear the fruit of ungodliness. Those small seeds are pride, bitterness, envy, and the like. They are invisible sins that seek to take root in the heart and in the mind. We must resist them. If we can be successful at ridding these wicked seeds from our hearts, we can be safe from apostasy.