I agree with you in that it’s far more productive simply to remain in Him and continue to grow by His work in us.
If somebody falls out of fellowship, they aren’t getting away with anything, they simply are placing themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time to perform by His Plan, so they simply are leaving a reward on the shelf, which they won’t inherit or be rewarded at the bema seat judgment.
We only have this life prior to the first death to grow in Christ, so that when He administers awards at the bema seat, we receive them for all eternity. I remember studying a doctrine on this note, where it is only prior to the first death, that our human spirit and soul is able to be cleansed and tested and produce works which are later rewarded at the bema seat. The consequences of those crowns are eternal, so it is in our best interest not to grieve the Holy Spirit or fail to abide in Him.
One thing I can consistently note about each and every sin I have ever committed or will commit, is that it was never done by remaining in Him. They always occur when I am out of fellowship. So a great mechanism to check ourselves when tempted, is to double check and make sure we are in fellowship with Him, and place things in His hands and decide and act through faith in Him. He’s always a winning solution.
I feel the same way. Yes we sin, yes we can be led away. But there is no real pleasure in sin, and we realize it and come back. And he is always waiting to forgive and take us back and, hopefully, each time this happens, our faith grows stronger, our sadness over grieving him grows deeper and we get a little better each time.
MadDawg may be able to testify if this story I heard is true or not. Even if it isn’t, I still believe the concept, because it happened to me!
The story is about how a shepherd who had a lamb that was always running off from the fold, getting lost, getting in trouble, risking being eaten by wolves, would take that lamb and break its leg. He would then splint the leg and carry the lamb upon his shoulders until the leg was healed. After that the lamb would never stray again.
Sometimes God has to let us go off and do our own thing. He then allows that rebellion to break our hearts - which sin will ALWAYS do. Then when we come back to him in tears and sorrow for our sins, he forgives us and carries us until our heart heals. We learn that true happiness and joy can only be found in him and we don’t want to ever be away from him again.