“Who against hope believed in hope,
that he might become the father of many nations;
according to that which was spoken,
So shall thy seed be.”
(Romans 4:18)

Today I experienced the familiar frustration of misplacing the belt clip for my cell phone. Yes, I know they're pretty uncool but, in keeping with my personality, I use one anyway. And although I’m generally an organized person, I’ve found myself searching for this conspicuous accessory more times than I’d care to admit.

So there I was, searching diligently from room to room with no immediate luck. I had errands to run and was becoming annoyed by the delay, but I wasn't leaving the house without it. As I searched, Luke 15:8 came to my mind:

“Either what woman having ten pieces of silver,
if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle,
and sweep the house,
and seek diligently till she find it?”

When something valuable is lost, and when finding it proves difficult, there are generally two ways in which we can choose to respond: 1) concede that it's probably gone forever, or 2) search harder. In this case, the inconvenience of searching was outweighed by my hope of finding something I valued.

The majority of us have a long list of loved ones in desperate need of Christ - sons, daughters, neighbors, and coworkers who are spiritually lost, "having no hope, and without God in the world" (Eph. 2:12). Perhaps some of them are even backsliders who "were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come" (Heb. 6:4-5). You've witnessed to them faithfully and prayed for them tearfully, but nothing has changed. The "search" thus far has been exhausting and unsuccessful.

This is the point where many people give up. They resign themselves to the sad conclusion that what is lost will never be found, that the prodigal who has "departed into a far country" will never again "come to himself" and return home (Luke 15:13, 17).

But all hope is not lost! After all, we've been given the blessed promise from God that "if we ask any thing according to His will, He heareth us," and certainly He is "not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (1 John 5:14; 2 Pet. 3:9). Your prayers are being heard. Your tears are seen by the "Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort," Who offers us the consolation that "they that sow in tears shall reap in joy" (2 Cor. 1:3; Ps. 126:5). Not only is He deeply "touched with the feeling of our infirmities", but He "is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think" (Heb. 4:15; Eph. 3:20).

So keep praying, keep witnessing, and most importantly, keep believing. Live every day walking by faith (2 Cor. 5:7), rejoicing in hope (Rom. 12:12), and resting in Divine love (Zeph. 3:17). The answer may be just around the corner.

“And it came to pass, as soon as Gideon was dead, that the children of Israel turned again, and went a whoring after Baalim, and made Baal-berith their god.”

                                                                -Judges 8:33

Over and over again in the Old Testament, we see that the Israelites faithfulness to God was always dependant on whether or not they had a Godly ruler. If their king or judge was a God-fearing person, then so were they. But as soon as that person died, they would revert back to their sinful, idolatrous lifestyle.

That was the case in the days of Gideon. While he was alive, he kept the Israelites in line, urging the people to serve the Lord. But as it says in today’s passage, they left God “as soon as Gideon was dead.”  This gives us the impression that they never really had it in their heart to begin with! Whether their spiritual experience was just that shallow, or if perhaps they never even had one, we may never know. But one thing we can be sure of is that we must have our own personal relationship with God. 

Think of the Israelites as having been a cold-blooded animal. Such an animal has no way whereby to maintain it’s body temperature, and is thus dependant on heat from the outside world to survive. If found in a warm environment, it is lively and vigorous; if otherwise, it is lazy and despondent.  But on the other hand, a warm-blooded creature has the same body temperature regardless of its surroundings. Whether in a tropical rainforest, or in a snowy blizzard, it doesn’t change.

Cold-blooded animals are paralleled by so called Christians of the 21st century who “serve God” only when surrounded by other Christians. But as soon as their surroundings change, so do they. When around the Godly, they are “Godly”; but when around the sinful, they are sinful. They laugh at jokes they would scorn in Christian company, and maybe even tell a dirty joke or two themself. The music they listen to, the books they read, the television shows they watch – everything changes based on who their with.

A true Christian, however, is not affected in the slightest by his or her surroundings. When around the Godly, they are Godly; when around the sinful, they are….Godly. Whether in church, or in the supermarket, their identity remains unchanged. This is the same mind that was in Christ Himself, Who preached the truth when people flocked to Him by the thousands, and when His best friends on earth forsook Him and went their own way.

I know that I usually don’t say this much about a single verse, but I feel such a need to share this with you. I think it’s a message that we all need to be reminded of. Your relationship with God should be just that: your relationship with God. Not your parent’s; not your pastor’s; and not your friend’s. It has to be a genuine, life-changing experience.

 

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

                                             -II Corinthians 5:17

"Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall."

                            -I Corinthians 10:12 

As Christians, a lot of times it is easy for us to think that we are beyond making a mistake, or turning our back on the Lord. We get in our heads that we are too righteous to become unrighteous, too holy to become unholy, and too perfect to ever mess up. However, it has been my observation that such an attitude is usually an indication that we've already faltered, in that we have succumbed to the sin of pride, and thus aren't as close to God as we think we are anyway. Rather than encouraging the Corinthians to hop up on their high-horses and look down on everybody else, the apostle Paul urged them  to "take heed lest they fall." He realized that nobody is so close to God that they are beyond messing up.

Take the story of Peter, for example. When Jesus told him that he (Peter) would deny the Lord three times before the cock crowed, Peter immediately claimed he would gladly die with Jesus and would never deny Him (Matthew 26:31-35). How quickly that changed when Jesus was dragged before Caiaphas, the High Priest, to be put to death and Peter stood on the sidelines saying nothing - that is, until he was asked if he knew Jesus, at which time he denied Him with curses and swearing (Matthew 26:69-75). Not only did he mess up, but he made himself look terrible considering his previous claims of loyalty and faithfulness.

Let's take a lesson from Peter's failure and always retain a spirit of humility before the Lord, "...for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble." (I Peter 5:5) The fact is, humility makes us much less likely to fall as opposed to being prideful; not to mention the fact that when a prideful person falls, they usually make a fool of themself in the process.

"A man's pride shall bring him low: but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit."

                            -Proverbs 29:23

"Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful."

                            -Psalm 1:1 

As I said yesterday, this is one of my favorite verses in the Bible. Not only do we find godly instruction telling us what to stay away from, but if we look closely we can see the slow fade of a man turning away from God. Let's take a look:

"It's a slow fade when you give yourself away,

It's a slow fade when black and white are turned to gray,

Thoughts invade, a choice is made, a price will be paid when you give yourself away.

People never crumble in a day..."

                                  -Slow  Fade, Casting Crowns

It fills me with sadness to think of all the people I've known that, at one time in their life, were serving the Lord zealously, but have since then gone astray. Some are in jail, some are divorced, others involved with drugs and alcohol, while others are too blind to even see how far away they've drifted. No, I'm not talking about those who visit church once or twice and then forsake the Lord. I've seen people that sat on a church pew nearly ever Sunday for more than eight years turn their backs on God.

When I think about all those I know that have left God, I realize that they were no less saved than I am. Why should I think that I am incapable of backsliding? I like the way the old song, Come Thou Fount, puts it:

Prone to wander, Lord I feel it

Prone to leave the God I love

Here's my heart Lord, take and seal it,

Seal if for Thy Courts above. 

 We must do as the apostle Paul admonished us and examine ourselves, seeing whether we are in the faith. Where are we at? Are we serving Christ as earnestly as we once were, or have we slacked off somewhat? Is the fire burning low, or is it burning brightly? These are questions we should ask ourself from time to time, lest we find ourself making the same detour that many others have throughout the years.

"Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. "

                                -II Corinthians 13:5

Backsliding is to turn away from following Christ. If we are not completely dedicated to Christ, sin, like a cancer, will take over our life and we will backslide:

"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field"

- Matthew 13:44

(We must we willing to "sell all.")

"Blessed are they that keep His testimonies, and that seek Him with the whole heart."

-Psalm 119:2

Loving God, which is the key to living a successful Christian life (Mark 12:30), is much more than just an emotion that we feel, but it is a lifestyle that must be lived at all times.


Some people do not believe that once a person is saved they can backslide. However, the Scriptures clearly speak otherwise. Luke 9:62 says, "...No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." Jesus clearly states that it is indeed possible to "look back", and that such a person is not fit for the kingdom of God. Proverbs 14:14 also refers to backsliding:

"The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own
ways..."

Such a person (one who is filled with his own ways) is most certainly an ungodly person, for one who is godly is filled with God's ways, not his own. David compares the ungodly to chaff in Psalms 1:4 when he says "The ungodly are not so: but are like chaff which the wind driveth away", and Matthew 3:12 tells us that the Lord will "...burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire..."


Those who have turned away from following Christ are not beyond the reach of God's grace (Jeremiah 3:22). They need only confess their sins to Christ and seek forgiveness until they feel the "...peace which passeth all understanding..." that Paul spoke of in Philippians 4:7.




See also:


Isaiah 59:2

I Corinthians 10:12

Hebrews 10:38

Revelation 2:4

Jeremiah 15:6

II Peter 2:21