SLIP SLIDING AWAY ~ A Study in Jeremiah

When I was a child, my mom taught us how to make a sliding board way more fun! If one took a sheet of wax paper and ran it up and down the metal sliding board a few times, it was possible to fly rather than just slide down that board. We never left the house for the playground without reminding my mom we needed the waxed paper. (I am not sure anyone makes metal slides any longer. Was that thing hot in the heat of the day!) It was not dangerous if you could see where you were going and were ready to plant your feet the moment they hit the ground. With that added element of fun, we could amuse ourselves with a sliding board for hours. The same concept works with a large flattened cardboard box and a steep hill—but I digress.

 

When you were a child, did you ever try to go down a slippery sliding board backwards? I remember my children trying to accomplish this feat on several occasions. I did not teach them to try this; it seemed to come naturally to their inquisitive make-up. I always got them turned around before they could carry through with their daring attempts at fun. The danger in going down the sliding board backwards is twofold: It is not possible to see where you are going, and there is no surety your feet are going to catch you when you land. In fact, there is a far greater possibility that you are going to end up with a head injury unless you can get turned around in the process of the slide down that slippery slope.

 

If you have been a Christian for any length of time, you have heard the word backsliding. Maybe you have even referred to a time in your walk with the Lord when you labeled that period a time of backsliding. Some say that true believers cannot backslide. Some equate backsliding with one losing his or her salvation. What does it mean to backslide?

 

When it is said that a Christian backslides, it is implied that someone who professes to follow Christ is moving away from Him rather than toward Him. Our walk with Christ is described in terms that allow us to understand the growth process we have all experienced in our physical lives. Likewise, when one is born-again, he or she begins to grow up to be more like Christ in maturity. Just like a child may revert to some childish behavior, a Christian who is said to be backsliding is regressing in the growth process rather than progressing. He has reverted to his old ways. There are signs in someone’s life that one is backsliding—dropping out of church, lack of desire for spiritual things, especially growing cold toward Christ, walking away from other believers or family, or simply falling back into old habits. When the body of Christ begins to take notice that these things are happening in the life of another believer, it is right for them to be concerned whether true salvation has taken place and come alongside them with admonition.  Quite often, the one who is in the backslidden state rebels against this love.

 

Hosea uses the word stubborn which means backsliding in a vivid word picture in 4:16—Since Israel is stubborn like a stubborn heifer, can the LORD now pasture them like a lamb in a large field? This description may have had some irony in it pointing back to the idol of the golden calf. Israel was portrayed as an untamed calf pulling back away from his yoke in stubborn rebellion.

 

I think it is interesting that one who is backsliding does not necessarily believe she is falling backward but just failing to move forward. Often it is a slide in slow motion or a drifting into sin. Most do not deliberately in one defining moment turn their backs on Christ; they simply begin to drift further and further from Him. Because the Christian life is described as a walk, we should never deceive ourselves into thinking that we can be standing still. Every Christian should be growing in their walk. This means that one’s prayer life is deepening, hunger for the Word is increasing, and love for others (especially believers) is growing. I remember asking the girls in Bible study frequently—What is the Lord currently teaching you? We are always learning, always growing in the knowledge of the truth, and seeking to apply that wisdom to our lives. That is what the word discipleship means. Also, part of our walk is to diligently be on the alert against drifting away from this anchor the Truth of God’s Word provides. The anchor is secure. It is we who drift away. Hebrews 2:1 says: For this reason, we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it. (See also 1 Peter 1:13 and Matthew 26:41.)

 

 

 

When someone backslides, does that mean he or she has lost salvation? While a true believer is secure in Christ because God will not ever remove His children from His family, sometimes a backslidden condition indicates that true salvation has never taken place. It is always possible when a person who professes Christ begins to turn away, that he is just revealing his true colors. It is also possible for those in Christ to backslide—but only temporarily.

 

As I have said on numerous occasions, my time with the Lord in prison was some of the sweetest times I have ever had with Him. When I got out of prison, however, and the world hit me forcefully in the face, I began to lose interest in spiritual things. I didn’t want to, but life was overwhelming me. Getting out of prison is traumatic because getting set up in life once again lends itself to distractions on a 24/7 basis. It is as if your head is spinning, and you do not know when it will stop. I knew in my spirit that things were not right with me. It was not the first time in my walk I had experienced a spiritual “dry” season. This time, however, I did not give myself over to it. What do I mean by that? There were other times in my life when I let that current take me with it…never ending well. My Father had to discipline me in some way for my rebellion. This time, however, even though I was not “feeling it”, I stayed in the Word, kept praying with little passion, and kept going to church. It may have looked to anyone who could see my heart that I was being a hypocrite, but I was pushing through this dry wilderness to what I knew was still there waiting for me. I had experienced two major crises of faith, and I knew He was there for me. I was drifting away from Him; He had not left me. I believed that I needed to be obedient even though I was devoid of passion at the time. The key to understanding this form of backsliding is that it is always temporary, but you must fight it with obedience to the Word. My family and I signed off our letters in prison: Faith endures and loves lasts forever. This was a reminder of two very important truths. A true believer will walk out of every trial still believing—perseverance of the saints—and it is because God’s love is holding onto that person.

 

When severe trials come, sometimes a true believer begins a time of questioning the Lord. In my most severe trials, my questioning came in the form of seeking answers in the Word. I knew the Lord was drawing me close to Himself each time, even while I was questioning His sovereign will and providence over my life. I was not seeking an excuse to live in rebellion. He knew I wanted not just answers, but I wanted Him. We often say that we would not choose our trials, but we would not change them for anything once we have gone through them, either. Why? Because the result of a crisis of faith is often that we come to know God more intimately than we did before. The one who created us knows the deepest need of our hearts and designs them to that end.

 

Sometimes a person goes through a severe trial and begins on the wrong premise. With bold faith, they claim God’s promises believing things will work out the way they want it to work out. When that does not happen, disillusioned, they walk away from God because they believe Christianity does not work for them. The person who fails to commit to Christ wholeheartedly, only taking Christianity for a “test drive”, is always going to be disappointed when things do not work out according to their plans.

 

Then the LORD said to me in the days of Josiah the king, “Have you seen what faithless Israel did? She went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and she was a harlot there. I thought, ‘After she has done all these things she will return to Me’; but she did not return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw it. And I saw that for all the adulteries of faithless Israel, I had sent her away and given her a write of divorce, yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear; but she went and was a harlot also. Because of the lightness of her harlotry, she polluted the land and committed adultery with stones and trees. Yet in spite of all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to Me with all her heart, but rather in deception,” declares the LORD. (Jeremiah 3:6-10)

The word for faithless in verse 6, as well as in 3:8, 11-12, 14 is backsliding in the NKJV and means turning away, turning back, apostasy, backsliding.

 

God is telling Judah that she needs to be taking a lesson from her wicked sister, Israel, who had already gone into captivity. Israel had done exactly what Judah was now doing. God had called for Israel to return to Him as well, yet she had not. God had assured Judah, just as He had Israel, He would welcome her with open arms if she would return to Him. What should have been Judah’s warning, was flippantly disregarded. Because Judah’s sin was compounded, she would endure a much more severe captivity than Israel.

 

Because of the ‘lightness of her harlotry’ she polluted the land and committed adultery with stones and trees. She could have served the Creator, but she chose to serve His creation, instead. How ludicrous! What she was doing to her Husband mattered so little to her that she thumbed her nose at God’s warning of what had already happened to her sister. The revival that took place under Josiah was, for the most part, a superficial experience with God.

 

Today, there are multitudes sitting in mega churches. It appears that people are coming to Christ in droves, especially since the seeker-friendly deception. Large crowds and large numbers do not reflect that of the genuinely converted. People are coming to Christ; that will always be the case until the times of the Gentiles has been fulfilled.  But a lot of what is happening in the name of Christianity only serves to give false assurance to the deceived who cannot even recognize the true Gospel of Jesus Christ.

 

We live in a land where Bibles are plentiful. Even if one does not own a hard copy of the Bible, he or she, no doubt, has the internet where biblical resources abound. The Word of God is an example of God’s past judgments of His people. Great empires and cultures have fallen before us. What is the lesson from our small passage today? God will judge more harshly a country that has free access to His Word—teaching us how He is calling us to live, serve, and honor Him. God will judge us according to the opportunities we have had, and we have had it all!