Tuesday 10 December 2019

Dangers of Backsliding

Scripture:  2 Peter 2 v 20 - 21: "For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.  
21 For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them."


Our God has infinite mercy but He cannot override our free will.  Life is all about choices, and sticking with commitments.  We make marriage vows before God in what is called Holy Matrimony.  Those vows are sacred before God, yet so many people treat them very lightly.

When we break our commitments to Jesus there are always consequences to consider.  When you backslide it means we reject our salvation and its benefits, for the pleasures of the world.  And God says it would be better for you if you had never known Jesus, rather than to reject Him.

The reason is that we lose a host of unseen and unknown blessings like forgiveness of sin, eternal security, and constant spiritual protection.  This makes us extremely vulnerable to the temptations of the Devil, and his evil designs upon us.  He works on seeming disappointments that we blame on God, to break our faith and promote unbelief.

Unbelief is a sin in which we choose not to believe God, and this causes us to turn away from Jesus, and to follow our own will.  The Holy Spirit will continue to minister to us until the day comes when He no longer chooses to strive against sin, and our hardened heart.  This is the time of our greatest danger as there is no longer any restraint and we feel the freedom to do our own thing.

The trouble is that we are always and only responding to either God or Satan in what we choose to do, and never actually "doing our own thing".  This harkens back to the Serpent's tactics on Eve in Eden.  He inserted unbelief....

Genesis 3 v 3 - 6: "But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
4  And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
5  For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
6  And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat."

In verse 4 he contradicted God, verse 5 inserted an opposing conclusions, when she agreed with him she disobeyed God and backsliding.  Adam did it knowing he would plunge the world into darkness.  It cost them everything.

We must believe, know and understand that God loves us and has our best interests at heart.  Our enemy is Satan who has sworn to destroy us.....he is the father of lies and the most successful conman of all time.

His aim is to separate us from God the Father, and Jesus, either by stopping us ever being born again, or stealing our joy once we are saved.  Every human on Earth who is not living an abundant Christian life, is being deceived by Satan the destroyer.  Whether in false religions, atheism or as a backslider, he gloats over losers constantly and flaunts them in the Father's face.

So, Beloved of God, if you have strayed, are you aware of the very real consequences?  Is that what you really want for you and your family?  To be Satan's plaything, to be tormented and eventually destroyed?  Or are you willing to repent of your folly and slide back to Jesus?


Prayer: Father God, forgive me my backsliding and the hurt I have caused You, and Jesus.  Forgive my arrogance and sin that cause me to be independent of Your authority and guidance.  Wash me in the Blood of the Lamb and restore my name to the Book of Life. Revive my heart in the joy of Your salvation. In Jesus' name. Amen.