“Return, you backsliding children, And I will heal your backslidings.” (Jer. 3:22 NKJV)
Backsliding: To revert to bad habits or lapse in religious practice. To slide back, in a figurative sense; apostatize; turn from the faith; depart from or abandon religious principles or practices. To slide back; to fall away; esp. to abandon gradually the faith and practice of a religion that has been professed.
Backsliding doesn’t happen suddenly
Backsliding happens gradually, little by little. It’s like the old boiling frog story, where the pot containing a frog in cold water is heated up very slowly, one degree after another, and the frog remains in the pot and comfortable until it’s too late and gets cooked. Similarly, Christians must not remain still in their relationship with God without putting in regular effort to “press towards the mark, which is Christ.” (Phil 3:14).
What you must do to move forward
To move forward and not slide backwards, you must work to strengthen your relationship with God and to remain hot and to not become lukewarm through doing nothing (Rev. 3:16). Charles Spurgeon stated it this way: “The Christian life is very much like climbing a hill of ice. You cannot slide up. You have to cut every step with an ice axe. Only with incessant labor in cutting and chipping can you make any progress. If you want to know how to backslide, leave off going forward. Cease going upward and you will go downward of necessity. You can never stand still.”
If you’re backslidden or lukewarm
If you find yourself in a fallen, lukewarm, or backslidden condition. God offers to restore you. He says, “Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works...” (Rev. 2:5 NKJV).
God’s offer, what to do, what to pray, what God does, and the results
“Come now, let’s settle this,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool.” (Isa. 1:18 NLT)
“Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the LORD Almighty. “But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’”. (Mal. 3:7 NIV)
“Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,” Acts 3:19 NIV)
“Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” (James 4:8 ESV)
“For your name’s sake, O LORD, pardon my guilt, for it is great.” (Psalm 25:11 ESV)
“…my Lord, deal on my behalf for your name’s sake; because your steadfast love is good, deliver me!” (Psalm 109:21 ESV)
“Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love. Because of your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins.” (Psalm 51:1 NLT)
“I—yes, I alone—will blot out your sins for my own sake and will never think of them again.” (Isa. 43:25 NLT)
“He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross.” (Col. 2:14 NLT)
“I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist. Return to me, for I have redeemed you.” (Isa. 44:22 NIV)
Therefore…
“I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.” (Luke 15:7)
Quotes:
“The Christian life is never static. One must either grow in grace, or there will be backsliding and deterioration.” - Henry Ironside
“In every Christian’s Heart, there is a cross and a throne, and the Christian is on the throne till he puts himself on the cross; if he refuses the cross, he remains on the throne. Perhaps this is at the bottom of the backsliding and worldliness among Gospel believers today. We want to be saved, but we insist that Christ do all the dying. No cross for us, no dethronement, no dying. We remain king within the little kingdom of man’s soul and wear our tinsel crown with all the pride of a caesar; but we doom ourselves to shadows and weakness and spiritual sterility.” - AW Tozer
