We’ve all heard of, known of and maybe even been one ourselves – backsliders. In our minds we have a visual definition of a backslider – one who starts sitting closer and closer to the back, then starts coming in late and sits in the back, then starts leaving early from the back, then comes late and leaves early from the back, then stops coming all together. Gradually, they are sliding back and back until they are, by definition, a full-blown backslider.
I pray that such will never describe you, but if it does, hear the pleadings of your gracious and loving Father, “Return, O backsliding children” (Jer. 3:12, 14, 22), and “I will heal their backsliding” (Hos. 14:4). Nevertheless, even if you could never be seen, known or described as a backslider, there is a condition just as dangerous described in Proverbs 14:14. “The backslider in heart will be filled with his own ways.” Maybe on the “outside” you would never be a backslider, but what about on the “inside”? Where is your heart in relationship to serving God? Is it steadfast, unwavering and resolute? Keep all hints of backsliding from it!