I believe the current spiritual condition of much of the Church is
very unhealthy. If it were a person, it would be in Intensive Care and on
life support. As I thought about this
and then read in First Timothy 4:1, "The Spirit clearly says that in later
times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things
taught by demons", I began to wonder as to what would precipitate such an
event and the word "backsliding" came to mind.
Merriam-Webster's dictionary defines backsliding as "to
lapse morally or in the practice of religion; to revert to a worse
condition." Other words that the dictionary uses that are similar are
"regress" and "revert". This definition gives the reader
the impression that one has been at a place and is no longer there, that they
have left the once held position and moved back to a previous position, or
progressed to an even worse condition than was held in the beginning.
So, why would someone who has been a believer revert back to
their original position, or even worse, progress to an even worse
condition? I believe there are three possibilities.
First, it
brings up the question as to whether the person actually became a true believer
in the first place. It is quite common for those who get emotionally stirred up
during a church service or are struggling with problems in their lives, or feel
pressure from others, to cry out to God.
While God is more than willing to reach down and help us, He does not do
it simply because we have gotten ourselves in a predicament that requires His
intervention or because we have become emotionally aroused or feel pressured to
assure our place in heaven.
Many only view Christ as a
means to an end...they think they can accept Him because they need a
Savior, or a problem solver, but they
decide He does not need to be "Lord" of their life. However this goes
against First Peter 3:15a which says, "But in your hearts
revere Christ as Lord...". Some
are even being told that all he/she needs to do is "Come to Jesus",
that there is no need to give up anything, and that they can just add Him into
the mix of all the other religions/belief systems they are currently following.
I suppose that means you can have your
Cross sitting next to your Buddha statue and all your other religious
paraphernalia and that it is perfectly acceptable.
True conversion as a result
of the atonement of Jesus Christ is absolutely mandatory, and the only way, to having a right relationship with God
and there is no way one can water it down, add it into the mix or come up with
their own personalized modified version that suits their fancy.
Matthew Henry
tells us what true conversion looks like when he said, "...true conversion
makes a marvelous change in the heart and life. It alters the mind, judgment,
affections, and conversation. When a man
is truly converted, it is very grievous to him to think how the time past of
his life has been spent." True salvation and conversion restores the
relationship we are to have with God. He is the Creator and as His creation we
need to do as His Word instructs and we do not have the right to pick and
choose what we will do or not do. If you insist on retaining this level of
independence, then following Christ is not for you.
The
questions you need to ask yourself are these...did you accept Christ's
atonement on the Cross, and did you agree with God that you were sinful and in
need of a Savior and Lord? You may
think you can play around with salvation, be half-hearted about it, and go on
living a worldly life, but you are not fooling God. You can choose to ignore
the truth, but you cannot hide anything from God. He knows your heart and your
true intentions.
Second, the person willingly
came to the Lord, repented of their sins and has received a new life in
Christ. Unfortunately they soon discover
that rather than their life becoming easier, it now has become more difficult.
And the culprit behind this is none other than Satan himself. I believe he
spends extra effort trying to dishearten and convince new believers to return
to their old way of life. If one is not forewarned about the reality of this
happening to them, and forearmed so they are prepared, then they soon begin to
think that life was much easier before their conversion and many have returned
to it for just such a reason.
The Church is guilty of not equipping new
believers for what lies ahead of them and instead lists all the benefits and
goodies one will receive if he/she becomes a believer. New believers are not warned that they are
now the enemy of Satan and as such will begin to be harassed by him and his
minions. Satan is not stupid. He knows
it is much harder to turn a more spiritually mature person against God, so he
goes after the youngest, the weakest.
As Charles Spurgeon warned, "The
prince of evil is very busy in hindering those who are just coming to Jesus
Christ. Here he spends the main portion of his skill. Some of us who know the
Savior recollect the fierce conflicts which we had with Satan when we first
looked to the cross and lived." I am presuming here that those who did
make it through the first fierce conflicts did so because they had been
prepared and taught on how to deal with such an onslaught.
Lastly, the person who did repent of his/her sins and
asked the Lord to direct and guide their life has unknowingly or perhaps willingly
backslid. The believer who is
backsliding is often unaware it is happening or chooses to ignore the signs that
it is happening.
Proverbs
14:14 says, " The backslider
in heart shall be filled with his own ways: and a good man shall be satisfied from
himself." Backsliding
begins in the heart. It begins by losing
interest in the things of God or becoming bored with God. We gradually drift
back to our old ways. Losing interest in
God, our prayer life begins to slip as does our time spent reading and studying Scripture. Other
things begin to take their place, and become more exciting than the things of
God, all a result of broken fellowship with God. We can try to keep up
appearances if necessary, but deep down there is little to no communication
with Him. We no longer talk to others about what God is doing in our lives
because He is simply not part of it any more.
And when another begins to
talk about God, we find we are not that interested. Yet, we often continue to attend church for
the sake of appearances or out of duty or habit. If we were to be honest we
have gotten bored with it all.
Revelation 2:4 says it this way "...(they have) left thy first
love."
Some are
guilty of simply a change of companionship. Where we once used to patronize
bars or brothels, we now patronize religious establishments and church
functions. Of course our new friends are more moral and acceptable, but we are
no nearer to a pure walk before God than at the beginning. The outside has
changed but the inside man remains the same.
When we
receive salvation we cannot assume that our sinful desires are gone. We tread
on dangerous ground when we simply clean up our sin without removing it. We
often just exchange one sin for another and do not realize it. We may change
the type of sin we do, but it is still sin nonetheless. As A. W. Tozer said, " We Christians must look sharp
that our Christianity does not simply refine our sins without removing
them."
Some use
their freedom in Christ as a license to do whatever they please. When we use
that freedom to commit sin we do what Paul warned against in Romans, Chapter
Six, when he cried out against using that very freedom to commit sin as some
were doing in the Church. Romans 6: 1,2 says, "What shall
we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how
can we live in it any longer?" These people were using the ridiculous excuse that they were free to commit
sin so that they could keep God's grace operating in their life. While it is
wonderful to be free, it does not give us a license to commit any sort of sin,
nor permit us to believe we are allowed to do whatever we please. God has
indeed set us free, but He did not set us free to do evil, but to do good.
If we are
truly His and love God we hate sin; if we do sin, we will sorrowfully confess
it and receive forgiveness and cleansing from it, determining in our hearts to
never willingly return to it. We cannot, we must not, use our freedom as a
child of God as a license to sin and if this means fighting your flesh daily,
even hourly, then it must be done. We cannot hide behind our liberty in order
to practice sin.
We tend to do what is easy or
what we like to do. It takes labor on our part to work at something that does
not come naturally or easy, and living a sin-free life takes work as it
fights against our very nature. If we are not diligent, it is easy to turn away
and return to our old ways of living.
Is Jesus
Christ in charge of your life or do you simply act like a believer and continue
to guide your life the way you want? Is He "Lord" of your life or just part of
your religious trappings? The very first Christians who walked this earth
believed that He was Lord of all. Yes,
He had been their friend and their teacher while here on earth, but when He ascended
to Heaven to sit at the right hand of God He became Lord of everything.
When we
accepted Christ it became necessary for us to reject whatever He rejects, and
oppose whatever He opposes. We cannot be His follower and live contrary to how He would have us live. Many who feel that
they have unanswered prayer or that their lives are not going the way they
hoped are simply reaping the consequences of living a life that is displeasing
to God.
One cannot claim to be
walking with Christ if he/she is not walking in total obedience as it
contradicts the very essence of what salvation is all about.
When we claim to be a disciple of Christ and a believer in the Holy Bible, we
cannot ignore the teachings that we do not like. If we do we are rejecting the
Word of God. We can ignore certain
Scriptures, but we also open ourselves up to the dangers that go along with
that disobedience. Matthew 7:21 gives us fair warning when it says,
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of
heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in
heaven." It is
sad to say, but in that day there will be those who realize that their
Christianity was only a lifestyle they adopted and not the miracle of new
birth.
Proverbs
24:16 encourages us when it says, "...for though the righteous fall seven times, they rise
again, but the wicked stumble when calamity
strikes." Scripture is telling us
that even though we have fallen, we should rise up as God is waiting with open
arms for us to return to Him. He knows that living in this world has its
challenges and He is well aware that the Christian life is not a life absent of
problems, failures or difficulties. In fact, He knows all too well that the
Christian life is an ongoing struggle. And do not allow your failure to be a
hindrance in your own eyes. If you find
that you have backslidden and want to restore you relationship with Him, all
you need do is ask God for forgiveness for your rebellion and return to walking
with Him, accepting that He needs to be not only your Savior, but also the Lord
of your life. He is waiting with open
arms to receive you.
