My youngest and I have been reading aloud Heidi by Johanna Spyri. When I had first begun to read chapter books I loved this book! Even though I struggled with some of the words, the story itself captured my imagination and took me straight to the Alps! Usually I was too impatient to continue reading if I was challenged by struggling with words. I did not want to stop reading to inquire of someone, "What's this word?"
This particular edition is by Viking and has wonderful illustrations and explanations on nearly every page so that the reader is introduced to things as they might have been back then and are no longer familiar to our society.
We have one chapter left to read. But in our reading today, I wanted to share this passage.
Heidi is still in Frankfurt at the Sesemann's home. Mrs. Sesemann (the grandmother) has come for a visit. She and Heidi have this conversation one day...
"My dear, tell me why you're not happy. Is it still the same trouble?" (Mrs. Sesemann asks.)
Heidi nodded.
"Did you tell God about it?"
"Yes."
"And do you pray to Him every day to make you happy again?"
"No, not any more."
"I'm sorry to hear that. Why have you stopped?"
"It's no use," Heidi told her. "God didn't hear me and I daresay that if all the people in Frankfurt pray for things at the same time, He can't notice everybody and I'm sure He didn't hear me."
"Why are you so sure?"
"I prayed the same prayer every day for a long time and nothing happened."
"It isn't quite like that, Heidi. God is a loving Father to us all and knows what is good for us. If we ask for something it isn't right for us to have, He won't give it to us, but in His own good time, if we go on praying and trust in Him, He'll find us something better. You can be sure it's not that He didn't hear your prayer, for he can listen to everybody at once. That's part of the wonder of it. You must have asked for something He thought you ought not to have at present and probably said to Himself, 'Heidi's prayer shall be answered but only at the right moment so that she will really be happy. If I answer it now perhaps later on she'll wish she hadn't asked for it, because things may not turn out as she expects.' He has been watching over you all this time - never doubt that - but you stopped praying, and that showed you did not really believe in Him. If you go on like that, God will let you go your own way. Then if things go wrong and you complain that there's no one to help you, you will really have only yourself to blame, because you will have turned your back on the one Person who could really help you. Do you want that to happen, Heidi, or will you go now at once and ask God to forgive you and help you to find more faith, to help you to go on praying every day, and to trust Him to make things come right for you in the end?"
Wow. That's quite a clear refutation of the "once saved, always saved" false teaching. Although we cannot be taken from God's hand, we can turn our backs on Him and reject Him.
I also liked the way the Grandma asked for Heidi to ask for forgiveness and then to pray for Him to add to her faith and help her to pray. Who knew such theology would leap from the pages of a child's book?
2 comments:
Way to go, Grandma! There are those who run in my "circles" who will refute that if you are saved, God will keep you, and if you "fell away" that you weren't really saved in the first place. But then I wonder what about Hebrews 6 and 10?
What thinkest thou, my Lutheran Confessional friend?
What an inspiring title this book has. It's long been one of my favorites, too--can you imagine why? It wasn't until I was much older that I really "got" the spiritual lessons in it.
There were more spiritual lessons in the book, and I was kind of surprised since I hadn't read it in a while. I remember when I was a child I wanted to grow up and name a child of mine Heidi because of this book! I'm glad to have a friend named that!
Being saved in the first place would lead us into a discussion of objective and subjective justification and falling away would lead us into a discussion of free will and sanctification -- all of which I would like to treat with the correct, and not hasty, language. An idea for a future post, because these terms can mean different things to different people.
Short answer from me would be: of course you can be saved and then fall away from your faith.
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