WATCH THAT BACKSLIDING
Memorise: The backslider in heart shall
be filled with his own ways: and a good man shall be satisfied from himself.
Proverbs 14:14
Read: John 6:66-69, Bible in one year:
Judges 20-21, Matthew 28
Backsliding does not happen suddenly.
It’s a process that occurs over a period of time, during which a person becomes
lax in his thought life and begins to entertain from the path of light to the
ways of evil from which one was once saved. There are many prodigal sons and
daughters today who have forsaken their first love in the pursuit of
materialism. Many workers in the vineyard of God, who started well, have
allowed their spiritual fire to grow cold, thereby departing from the faith.
Hebrews 10:38 says,
“Now
the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no
pleasure in him.”
A backslider loses interest in the Lord,
in the Bible, in prayer, fellowship and witnessing, and eventually turns to the
world. It is like a dog returning to its vomit. You will not backslide in
Jesus’ Name. The flesh will always find expression when people fail to focus on
spiritual things. The flesh expression when people fail to focus on spiritual
things. The flesh clouds the minds of God’s children with such things as idle
past-times, sports and television, and fills their heart with junk at the
expense of spiritual growth. Before you know it, backsliding would have
commenced. Someone who has always been very zealous for God will then begin to miss church
meetings when there are crucial match fixes. A sister who has been very
productive in evangelism will then begin to come late to meetings because of
addition to certain television soaps. As Christians who are Heaven bound, we have
to be very careful. Let us keep ourselves away from danger zones as much as we
can. You have to be very vigilant and sober so that the devil doesn’t drag you
to Hell with little things you think do not matter (1st Peter 5:8).
Those detrimental “little things” you fail to terminate may end up terminating
your destiny (Song of Solomon 2:15)
Remember that even David, a man after
God’s heart, fell for Bathsheba. Samson, the Lord’s anointed from the womb,
lost his two eyes and was reduced to a prisoner grinding corn inside the
enemy’s prison. One of my sons came to me complaining of a problem. He
confessed that as every weekend drew to a close; he would get excited, looking
forward to the next Monday morning because he would see his secretary again. I
told him to disengage her from the job. A proverb in my native tongue says
“Stay away from a snake whose head is still intact.” Whatever you can’t control
will truncate your destiny. Whatever is capable of destroying your testimony
must be avoided. Sometimes you need to apply wisdom and not strength
(Ecclesiastes 9:18).
Action Point
Take wise, decisive action on any
relationship that has the potential of destroying your testimony.
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