The shift is subtle.  No one wakes up one day and decides to no longer believe God.  The journey into disbelief is more of a drift than a plunge.  

In His book You Can Change¹, Tim Chester suggests that the heart of every negative emotion and sinful behavior is a failure to believe a truth about God.  This dangerous disbelief originates in an unkempt heart.  Consider Hebrews 3:12:

Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.

Hebrews 3:12

Who Is Targeted?

Notice that the writer of Hebrews addresses this warning to brothers. In the New Testament this is a general term that describes believers in Jesus, of both genders.  But, yes, believers misbelieving.  It is possible to believe IN God but not actually BELIEVE God.  One can affirm God’s existence and even claim to have a relationship with His Son, Jesus but not believe Him. 

Declaring one’s belief in God is not the same as living obediently to what the God says.  Obedience comes about because one believes that what God has said is TRUE. That is the devil’s oldest trick. He deceived Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden by causing them to misbelieve God’s word and intentions. With the question “Did God actually say…” (Genesis 3:1) the devil planted a seed of disbelief.  That seed soon sprouted and yielded the fruit of disobedience.

So don’t think because you are a believer in God that you are immune to the dangers of disbelief.

The Seedbed of Disbelief

The heart is the heart of the matter.  The Hebrews author points out that the danger is an unbelieving heart. Biblically speaking, the heart is the seat of our affection, thoughts, and will.  We are vulnerable to this subtle unbelief specifically at those levels.  When we want something other than what God wants for us, we disbelieve Him.  Additionally, when we think about things from a different perspective than God does, we disbelieve Him.  And, when we want things that God doesn’t want for us to have at the moment (or ever), we disbelieve Him.  This subtle disbelief quietly says, “I know better than God.”  Or “God isn’t good.”  And other such nonsense as that.

As I stated at the beginning, the journey is not a plunge but a drift.  The Hebrews writer warns that disbelieve “leads” us to “fall away.”  This phrase indicates a slow, subtle drift away from a proper reference point.  

The Antidote for Disbelief

The Hebrews author encourages us to “take care.”  Literally, WATCH OUT!  Be on the look out.  Notice what is going on, take stock of your heart.  It echoes what Solomon writes in Proverbs 4:23, 

“Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.”

Proverbs 4:23

Keeping our heart is a matter of taking daily inventory of the voices to which we are listening.  Do those voices try to tell us that God does not care?  Or that God is not really in control of our lives?  Do we subtly begin to believe that God is serious about this sin stuff and that we can get away with it?

Know the truth.  Read God’s Word every day.  Remind yourself of what the Bible says about God, His purposes, and His ways.  Choose to BELIEVE God. Listen to the voice of truth rather than the whispers of disbelief. Watch yourself.  Think about what you are thinking about.  Do not let a subtle disbelieving heart lure you away from the truth about our glorious God.  He really is for you.  (Romans 8:31-39)

¹ Tim Chester’s book You Can Change can be found on Amazon by clicking here.

I recently preached a sermon on this topic. You can listen to the sermon by clicking here.