Backsliding Does it really happen?



Many of us wish to be devoted Christians and grow in grace, but for some reason, they end up  right back to where they started yet had made strides in becoming more like Christ. We do run well for a season like the Galatians and then turn aside after false teachers (Gal 1:6).some of us profess loudly while  our feelings are warm, as Peter did and then in the hour of trial deny the lord ( Matthew 26:74-75). We do see many of us who end up losing our first love as the Ephesians did (Rev 2:4) and this is but just among some of the examples of how we tend to go back even after some encounter with God's power.

It is indeed a bad thing to be a backslider, of all the bad things that can befall a man this is one I will call the worst. This is because it leaves one with “a wounded conscience, a mind sick of itself, a memory full of self-reproach, a heart pierced through with the lord’s arrow, a spirit is broken with a load of inward accusation.”[1] This can be a very troubling time and may seem like hell on earth. Truly the saying of Solomon “the backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways” (Pro 14:14).

What then are the causes of backsliding?

1)  Self-confidence- Luke 22:33 peter had all the confidence in themself in that he will go with Jesus to prison and death. This warns us that we should not boast of the wrong things but in God. 1st Corinthians 10:12 states “Let him who thinks he stands to take heed lest he falls.” Confidence should not be in self but in God.

2)  Prayerlessness – this is mostly a result of being self-confident. We tend to take matters into our own hands and in the process never ask God for help through prayer. This is broader in that we end up not having devotions and a personal relationship with God yet he asks of us to be dependent on his and through prayer and supplication make our requests known to God. Luke 22:40

3) Watching at a distance – many times we allow our shame or fear to cause us to watch God working in the lives of others and not our own. This makes most of us appear in the physical but not connected spiritually and slowly the devil snatches us from the promises of God. His work is to kill steal and destroy who else if not those who are neither cold nor warm. Well, we need to commit either we are part of His plans or not.

Therefore if we are Christians then we should never backslide and if we find ourselves in such a place 1st John 1:9 reminds us that God is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins. The way to prevent this is simply prayer and fellowship as this reignites the fire of the spirit in our lives.


[1] J.C.Ryle A Call to Prayer,(Mount Zion Bible Institute,1880).

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