BACKSLIDING
Your life as
a Christian is seemingly full of Christ and there is no room for self, but an
aggressive sin comes in and wiggles his way in, crowding out Christ just a
little bit. You give place to this sin
and soon another does the same thing.
Sin by sin, error by error, selfishness by selfishness, the backsliding
continues until you are virtually empty of Christ and full of self.
Backsliding, International Awakening
Ministries, 1982, p. 16.
Are You
Backsliding?
1. Prayer ceases to be a vital part of
your life
2. The quest for biblical truth ceases
3. Biblical knowledge is not applied
inwardly
4. Thoughts are predominately earthly and
not heavenward
5. The church service loses its delight
6. Spiritual discussions are a source of
embarrassment
7. More time is devoted to recreation and
entertainment than the Word and prayer
8. Sins can be committed without any
violation of the conscience
9. Aspirations for Christlike holiness
cease to dominate your life and thinking
10. Your mind is focused on the acquisition
of money and goods
11. Religious songs can be mouthed without
engaging the heart
12. When hearing the Lord's Name taken in
vain, you are not moved to indignation
13. Watching degrading movies becomes
entertaining and acceptable
14. Breaches of peace in the church are of no
concern
15. The slightest excuse keeps you from your
spiritual duties
16. The lack of spiritual power is met with
contentment
17. Personal sins are pardoned by a belief
that the Lord understands
18. An adjustment to the world is made with
ease
19. Nothing is done to relieve the misery and
suffering which exists around you
20. There is no concern for the lost or
sharing the gospel
Adapted from: Backsliding, 1982.
An avoidable
absence from church is an infallible evidence of spiritual decay.
There is only
one way to be revived and healed from our backslidings so that we may become
fruitful even in old age. We must take a steady look at the glory of Christ in
His special character, in His grace and work, as shown to us in the Scripture.
John Owen
Meditation on the Glory of Christ, 1684, ch. 16.
If
you find yourself loving any pleasure more than your prayers, any book better
than the Bible, any house better than the house of the Lord, any table better
than the Lord's table, any persons better than Christ, or any indulgence better
than the hope of heaven – be alarmed.
Thomas Guthrie
If
you begin to slip on the side of a mountain of ice, the first slip may not hurt
if you can stop and slide no further. But alas, you cannot so regulate sin!
When your feet begin to slide, the rate of the descent increases, and the
difficulty of arresting this motion is incessantly becoming greater. It is
dangerous to backslide in any degree, for we know not to what it may lead. The
Christian life is very much like climbing a hill of ice. You cannot slide up.
You have to cut every step with an ice ax. Only with incessant labor in cutting
and chipping can you make any progress. If you want to know how to backslide,
leave off going forward. Cease going upward and you will go downward of
necessity. You can never stand still.
C.H. Spurgeon
Remember that
if you are a child of God, you will never be happy in sin. You are spoiled for the world, the flesh, and
the devil. When you were regenerated
there was put into you a vital principle, which can never be content to dwell
in the dead world. You will have to come
back, if indeed you belong to the family.
The cure for
backsliding is found in the abiding love and mercy of God who remains faithful
to His promises of grace in Christ Jesus, whose righteousness and salvation is
apprehended through true faith and repentance.
If I rest, I
rust.
The Early Years, Christian History, n.
34.
Men
fall in private long before they fall in public.
J.C. Ryle
Backsliding,
generally first begins with neglect of private prayer.
A wrong sum
can be put right, but only by going back till you find the error and working it
afresh from that point, never by simply going on.
C.S. Lewis
If
you are not as close to God as you used to be, you do not have to guess who
moved.
Author Unknown
Backsliding
begins when knee-bending stops!
Author Unknown
However
advanced a man may be in piety or age, he is still in
danger of falling.
Charles Simeon
Though
Christians be not kept altogether from falling, yet they are kept from falling
altogether.
A Puritan Golden Treasury, compiled by I.D.E. Thomas, by permission of Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. 2000, p. 91.
Taking
it easy is often the prelude to backsliding. Comfort precedes collapse.
Vance Havner
The
causes of backsliding are many. We have pretended to be living a more devoted
life than was actually the case; we neglected to watch unto prayer; we allowed
secret sin to eat out the heart of our piety…or we yielded to temptation…or we
yielded to the fear of man, and drifted with the multitude to do evil; or we
became prosperous, and trusted only in our wealth; or poor, and succumbed to
covetousness and the bitterness of despair.
F B Meyer
Our Daily Walk. October 6.