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.

 

What is God like?

Chapter Fifty-five:

If you were to ask the average Christian believer what God is like, I am sure you would hear such terms as "loving" and "forgiving".  Some may even add in some big fancy words like "omnipotent" and "omnipresent", but if those people were to be totally honest with you, I believe they would struggle in going much further in describing what God is really like.  They may have an experience to tell you about or have stories to relay that they have heard from others, but for the majority of us, sadly, we have a very limited view of what our Holy God is truly like. 

However, if you were to ask that same person to describe a family member or a good friend, they could probably talk for several minutes, describing the characteristics of the person, their likes, their dislikes, what makes them laugh, what makes them upset. They can describe this person in detail because they have developed an understanding of what he/she is like. They have learned about that person's character, their nature. And the way this has happened is as a result of spending time with that person and developing a relationship with them.

Unfortunately, many have only learned about God's character from hearing a sermon, or listening to a teaching or from what they have read in their Bible, if they own one. And while those are ways that we learn something about God, they are rather limited in their scope as it is human nature to focus only on those characteristics that we find appealing or acceptable. It is quite common for us to view God as we see ourselves or to try to conform Him into some idea, or mold, of what we think He should be like.

However, The Bible teaches that there are many sides to God.  The characteristics of God are many. He is sovereign, holy, just, wise, loving, merciful, faithful, compassionate, and forgiving. But, we also need to remember that He will be the ultimate judge of this world and is absolutely intolerant of sin and any forms of rebellion.  He unquestionably expects obedience, surrender, holiness, self-control, and ongoing transformation to the likeness of His son, Jesus Christ, from His followers. As you can see, there are many aspects to God that we often overlook or do not want to acknowledge.iH

 It is my opinion that the Christ of the average believer today is not the Christ of the Holy Bible.  It is a distorted image that portrays Christ as being soft and timid and discards that side of Him that is angry over the state of this current world, and especially the poor spiritual condition of His Bride, the Church. They have simply modified Him to fit their needs, their view of how the world should be. 

We are not willing to let God be who He declares He is. We want to change, correct or alter Him so that we can make Him more acceptable to those who find His ways rather narrow minded and not in line with modern views of life. We certainly do not want to be called "intolerant" or "narrow minded", so we bend our beliefs just enough to fit into both camps. Some followers have taken all the judgment, justice and hatred for sin out of the very nature of God and we are left with a mushy God who just loves everybody and accepts anything.

If truth be told, many of the difficulties the Church has struggled with over the years have arisen from beliefs about God that were simply untrue, or from over emphasizing one of His characteristics over His others. To focus on any one characteristic to the exclusion of another is like looking at one piece of a picture to the exclusion of the rest.  For instance, some focus solely on God's desire for justice and His intolerance for sin and preach only "fire and brimstone", all the while downplaying the grace and mercy that God offers us.  

There are people who believe God has a very strict set of rules and guidelines we must follow, all the while ignoring the fact that when one is a believer we no longer walk in bondage and slavery, but in freedom and liberty.  

Then there are those who overemphasize His love and compassion to the exclusion of His intolerance and hatred for sin and the fact that He is a Holy and just God, and now we are left with a God who overlooks our sin.  I believe this is why many today have a hard time accepting the fact that God is a God who will judge the just and the unjust...they have focused solely on God being a loving God.  This makes us feel better because we can now believe everything will work out just fine in the end if one simply has good intentions and love for their fellow man.  

All of His characteristics, His nature, must be kept in balance. We tread on very thin ice, indeed, when we ignore any of His characteristics that we do not like, or do not line up with what we think God should be like. I believe it bears repeating because it is so very important...to magnify any one aspect of God and diminish the others is always wrong. 

God is who He is, and we had better learn to accept this because if we remove any one of the characteristics of God we weaken our entire concept of Him.  Sadly, the Church has lost its majestic concept of God.  No longer do we gaze upon Him as the Holy God that He is. We do not sense His divine presence. In our busy world, we have so little time we no longer spend time alone with Him in adoring praise.  We have brought Him down to our level and no longer sing, "Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty."  No longer do we prostate ourselves before him, as the angels fly around His throne day and night, singing "Worthy is the Lamb". God has simply become "the man upstairs".

 

Many will have a difficult time getting free from their wrong ideas about God.  These wrong ideas put up roadblocks in our walk with Him. They cause fear, uncertainty, unbelief, doubt and mistrust in our lives. We know we are to trust Him, but when difficult times arise, we soon find just how little we really do trust Him. And this is all a result of not really knowing who He is and what He is really like. Many have an incorrect view of what He is like and this must change if one is  going to follow Him and know Him intimately.

Often the difficulties we face are due to our unwillingness to accept God as He is. We insist upon modifying Him to suit our own needs or our own ideas of what He should be like. We have set limitations upon Him, but just think how reassuring it would be to know that we serve a God who has no limitations. For many, the void between knowing about God and really "knowing" God is due to lack of time spent in His presence and reading the Scriptures, with the intense desire to discover more about Him and develop a deeper relationship with Him.  

We tend to pick and choose what Scriptures we will read and in doing so, we do not see the overall character and nature of God come to light. Some will focus on the Old Testament and say, "See, He is a  God of judgment and  cruelty", while others who focus on the New Testament will decide that He is really a God of only love and mercy and He proved that to us when He sent His son, Jesus Christ, to save us from our sins.  The problem we develop when we only look at part of a person's character is that he/she becomes out of balance.  It is critical to our understanding of God that we understand Him in His totality, even if it goes against what we would find more comfortable in our own theology.

I challenge you to ask God to reveal to you what He is truly like. Spend time in the Word and in prayer getting to really know "Him" and not just about Him. You will find that He never changes, He always stands by His Word, and He is very patient.  But you also have to reconcile that with the fact that He is a God of judgment and can have no tolerance for sin, no matter how minor. 

If you cannot reconcile all the different aspects of God, then you will have a difficult time walking with our Holy God.  You will ultimately walk away with a different version in your mind of who God really is and what He is like, and that will be to your detriment. You may feel better compartmentalizing and rationalizing "your" version of God, but that will not change who God really is. God cannot change and He will not change.  It is simply impossible for Him to change who He is or any aspect about Himself. Scripture tells us that "He is the same yesterday and today and forever" (Hebrews 13:8).  And for those who feel that He has to change to keep up with the times, they will sadly find out just how wrong they are. 

As A. W. Tozer said, "What peace it brings to the Christian's heart to realize that our Heavenly Father never differs from Himself. In coming to Him at any time we need not wonder whether we shall find Him in a receptive mood.  He is always receptive to misery and need, as well as to love and faith. He does not keep office hours nor set aside periods when He will see no one.  Neither does He change His mind about anything. God never changes moods or cools off in His affections or loses enthusiasm. God will not compromise and He need not be coaxed.  He cannot be persuaded to alter His Word nor talked into answering selfish prayer. In all our efforts to find God, to please him, to commune with Him, we should remember that all change must be on our part." 

We need to fully understand God's character and nature in order to truly know and trust Him so we can unquestionably obey and follow Him. When times are difficult, you will want to know what kind of God you are following.  You must know what kind of God God is, because during the uncertainty of trials and struggles that may be all  that you have to fall back on.  As Job said in Job 13:15, "Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him; I will surely defend my ways to his face."  He was able to sincerely say that because He intimately knew God's character.