By Pastor Beaudry July 5, 2024
Because we are human and our flesh does not like to be disciplined, we can sometimes become lax, slowing down our progress in faith. The important thing is not to wait until it is too late to return to Christ.
When we hear the word “backslider,” we tend to think of those who have completely abandoned their faith and turned their backs on God. And we can certainly classify them as backsliders. But there are also Christians who backslide without even realizing it.
No one plans to relapse. That often happens gradually. It happens subtly, so subtly, in fact, that we may not even realize it. The Bible warns us about backsliding and says that one of the signs of the end times is that people will fall away from the faith.
So, what should we do if we have “backslid”? God tells us that we must return to Him. Through the prophet Jeremiah, God said: “Return, you faithless sons, I will heal your faithlessness.” “Behold, we come to You; For You are the Lord our God” (Jeremiah 3:22 NASB)
God also warned us: “Your own wickedness will correct you, and your apostasies will punish you; know therefore and see that it is evil and bitter for you to abandon the Lord your God, and the fear of Me is not in you,” declares the Lord God of armies” (Jeremiah 2:19 NASB). And Jesus said to the Church in Ephesus: “Therefore, remember from where you have fallen, and repent, and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and I will remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent” (Revelation 2:5 NASB).
We might say, “I would never fall into that” or “I would never commit that sin, even in a million years!” But we must be careful. Perhaps it is precisely in this area that we would fall into sin. We don’t know how bad our hearts are. Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?” (NASB)
We all tend to do bad things. So let’s never say that we would never do this or that because the fact is that we are perfectly capable of it and then some. An unprotected strength is a double weakness. When Peter denied Jesus, he first showed confidence in himself. He said to the Lord: “Even if they all fall away because of You, I will never fall away!” (Matthew 26:33 NASB). What caused Peter to say this was Jesus' revelation that Judas was a traitor. Peter was saying, “Listen, I don’t know anything about James and John, the so-called Sons of Thunder. And I’m not sure about Matthew and some others. But I will tell you this: I will never let you down.” It was self-confidence. The Bible says: “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before stumbling” (Proverbs 16:18 NASB).
Are we in a state of falling? Are we relapsing? We either move forward in Christ or we move backward. We either progress spiritually or we regress. But as soon as we put our spiritual growth at a standstill, we find ourselves heading in the wrong direction.
Let’s not rest on our laurels. Let’s not live in the past. We must constantly grow as followers of Jesus.