Why believers backslide...

Chapter Fifty-six:

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.