There are many passages which indicate the necessity of maintaining our faithfulness (and fruitfulness) until death. These exhortations and warnings clearly show the error of that unfortunately popular view — if you at any point of your life give yourself to Jesus, you are set for eternity.
They way to heaven is a journey. We start the path when we accept Jesus, and end it at death. If we at anytime determine to veer away and never return to the path, our souls will be lost. It is that “he who endures to the end shall be saved” (Matthew 24:13).
The passage I have in mind here is a simple one. In 1 Timothy 5 Paul warned about adding a young widow to the “number” indicating those who were to be cared for by the church (cf. 9). The reason for this is the temptation that would befall them, “for when they have begun to grow wanton against Christ, they desire to marry, having condemnation because they have cast off their first faith” (cf. 11-2).
The passage? Verse 15, “For some have already turned aside after Satan.” This passage shows that some young widows who left. They had “turned aside”, and their life was characterized as “after Satan” rather than Christ. We should all beware lest the same happen to any of us!
