Backslider or Frontslider – Part 3, by Deacon Mike Ben
The backslider in heart will be filled with the fruit of his ways, and a good man will be filled with the fruit of his ways.” Proverbs 14:14
Continued from last week.
It may be, dear Christian, that you have drifted somewhat but have never noticed it. You may be like Samson who “wist not that the Lord was departed from him” (Judges 16:20). We need to search our hearts and we need to watch and pray lest sin creep up on us.
What Does Backsliding Look Like?
1. When prayer ceases to be a vital part of a professing Christian’s life, backsliding is present.
2. When the quest for biblical truth ceases and one grows content with the knowledge of eternal things already acquired, there can be no mistaking the presence of backsliding.
3. When the biblical knowledge possessed or acquired is treated as external fact and not applied inwardly, backsliding is present.
4. When earnest thoughts about eternal things cease to be regular and gripping, it should be like a warning light to the backslider.
5. When the services of the church lose their delights, a backslidden condition probably exists.
6. When pointed spiritual discussions are an embarrassment; that is certain evidence of backsliding.
7. When sports, recreation and entertainment are a large and necessary part of your lifestyle, you may assume backsliding is in force.
8. When sins of the body and of the mind can be indulged in without an uproar in your conscience, your backslidden condition is certain.
9. When aspirations for Christ-like holiness cease to be dominant in your life and thinking, backsliding is there.
10. When the acquisition of money and goods becomes a dominant part of your thinking, you have clear confirmation of backsliding.
11. When you can mouth religious songs and words without heart, be sure backsliding is present.
12. When you can hear the Lord’s name taken in vain, spiritual concerns mocked and eternal issues flippantly treated, and not be moved to indignation and action, you are backslidden.
13. When you can watch degrading movies and television and read morally debilitating literature, you can be sure you are backslidden.
14. When breaches of peace in the brotherhood are of no concern to you; that is proof of backsliding.
15. When the slightest excuse seems sufficient to keep you from spiritual duty and opportunity, you are backslidden.
16. When you become content with your lack of spiritual power and no longer seek repeated enduements of power from on high, you are backslidden.
17. When you pardon your own sin and sloth by saying the Lord understands and remembers that we are dust, you have revealed your backslidden condition.
18. When there is no music in your soul and no song in your heart, the silence testifies to your backsliding.
19. When you adjust happily to the worlds’ lifestyle, your own mirror will tell the truth of your backsliding.
20. When injustice and human misery exist around you and you do little or nothing to relieve the suffering, be sure you are backslidden.
21. When your church has fallen into spiritual declension and the Word of God is no longer preached there with power and you are still content, you are in a backslidden condition.
22. When the spiritual condition of the world declines around you and you cannot perceive it; that is testimony of your backslidden stance.
23. When you are willing to cheat your employer, backsliding is apparent.
24. When you find yourself rich in grace and mercy and marvel at your own godliness, then you have fallen far in your backsliding.
25. When your tears are dried up and the hard, cold spiritual facts of your existence cannot unleash them, see this as an awful testimony both of the hardness of your heart and the depth of your backsliding. (Taken from Revival, Richard Owen Roberts)
You may want to take issue with a few of the “evidences” listed above, but before you do that consider them carefully lest you miss identifying a real problem in your life. And what if you find some of these things true of yourself?
The Cure for Backsliding
1. Identity your current condition
You cannot return if you do not know you have lost your way. “Remember therefore from where you have fallen.” (Rev. 2:5);
2. Meditate on Christ and His Work
If we are to be captured by the glory of Jesus, led to worship Him for all He is and has done for sinners, then we must see these things again and again. There is never a returning to Jesus apart from the word of God. When we respond to Him we are responding to his word. We find ourselves in a backslidden state because, in part, we lost sight of the glory of Christ. So we must see it again. “Seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” (Colossians 3:1-2)
3. Pray to God for the grace you need
That we can return is grace. That we will return is a promise made by God! Are you aware of your condition? Do you want to be revived? Perhaps you’re so cold you don’t even know if you really want it. Pray that God will do what He has promised, that He will heal your backsliding. “I will heal their apostasy; I will love them freely, for my anger has turned from them. …They shall return and dwell beneath my shadow; they shall flourish like the grain; they shall blossom like the vine.” (Hos. 14:4-7)
4. Repent of all known sins
The backslider is one who has forgotten the grace of repentance. His heart has become insensitive to his sin, and he has lost sight of his desperate and immediate need for Jesus. Returning to Jesus necessitates the painful awareness of and the turning from our sin. “Repent, and do the works you did at first.” (Rev. 2:5)
5. Return to Christ in fresh dependency
Those who know Jesus know a trustworthy Savior. Those who have wandered from communion with Him have lost a sense of dependency on Him for sustaining grace. We have lost sight of just how needy we are of grace; grace to come to Christ, grace to keep us with Christ, grace to return to Christ. It is as we recognize our current condition, see the glories of Jesus, seek the Lord for grace, and repent of our sin that we return to our first love. “Return to me, says the Lord of hosts, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts.” (Zech. 1:3)
Next week we shall look at Practical Stepladder to Avoid Backsliding.
God bless you real good