I'm a Backslider

I'm so very thankful that a friend tweeted this blog by Joe Thorn (http://www.joethorn.net/2012/10/16/25-marks/) this afternoon. I was in the gym looking through my twitter feed and when I saw the tweet, it immediately drew my attention. So I went on to read it and found myself slowing down on the elliptical and trying to remain together as I read through the 25 Marks of a Backslider.

I have included the 25 evidences of a backslidden condition as follows:

1. When prayer ceases to be a vital part of a professing Christian’s life, backsliding is present.

2. When the quest for biblical truth ceases and one grows content with the knowledge of eternal things already acquired, there can be no mistaking the presence of backsliding.

3. When the biblical knowledge possessed or acquired is treated as external fact and not applied inwardly, backsliding is present.

4. When earnest thoughts about eternal things cease to be regular and gripping, it should be like a warning light to the backslider.

5. When the services of the church lose their delights, a backslidden condition probably exists.

6. When pointed spiritual discussions are an embarrassment, that is certain evidence of backsliding.

7. When sports, recreation and entertainment are a large and necessary part of your lifestyle, you may assume backsliding is in force.

8. When sins of the body and of the mind can be indulged in without an uproar in your conscience your backslidden condition is certain.

9. When aspirations for Christlike holiness cease to be dominant in your life and thinking, backsliding is there.

10. When the acquisition of money and goods becomes a dominant part of your thinking, you have clear confirmation of backsliding.

11. When you can mouth religious songs and words without heart, be sure backsliding is present.

12. When you can hear the Lord’s name taken in vain, spiritual concerns mocked and eternal issues flippantly treated, and not be moved to indignation and action, you are backslidden.

13. When you can watch degrading movies and television and read morally debilitating literature, you can be sure you are backslidden.

14. When breaches of peace in the brotherhood are of no concern to you, that is proof of backsliding.

15. When the slightest excuse seems sufficient to keep you from spiritual duty and opportunity, you are backslidden.

16. When you become content with your lack of spiritual power and no longer seek repeated enduements of power from on high, you are backslidden.

17. When you pardon your own sin and sloth by saying the Lord understands and remembers that we are dust, you have revealed your backslidden condition.

18. When there is no music in your soul and no song in your heart, the silence testifies to your backsliding.

19. When you adjust happily to the worlds’ lifestyle, your own mirror will tell the truth of your backsliding.

20. When injustice and human misery exist around you and you do little or nothing to relieve the suffering, be sure you are backslidden.

21. When your church has fallen into spiritual declension and the Word of God is no longer preached there with power and you are still content, you are in a backslidden condition.

22. When the spiritual condition of the world declines around you and you cannot perceive it , that is testimony of your backslidden stance.

23. When you are willing to cheat your employer, backsliding is apparent.

24. When you find yourself rich in grace and mercy and marvel at your own godliness, then you have fallen far in your backsliding.

25. When your tears are dried up and the hard, cold spiritual facts of your existence cannot unleash them, see this as an awful testimony both of the hardness of your heart and the depth of your backsliding.

(taken from Revival, Richard Owen Roberts)


Church-goers alike (I included) piously act as though backslidding is only for "those" people who don't attend church and do "bad things". How foolish we are! Some items on the above list we treat as obviously "bad things" such as cheating your employer because we immediately think that would unmistakeably mean stealing money from a cash register or such. But have we neglected to think about the break that we were not to take, or slipping out earlier because no one will notice or such and such does it everyday, etc. Hear the truths of Scripture: "Our hearts are deceitfully wicked above all else, and desperately sick; Who can understand it?"(Jer. 17:9)

I say those things not to point fingers at anyone or slam anyone, but to gauge my own heart. These evidences are much more revealing of my own heart than anyone else's.

I was humbled, mortified, and ashamed as I read through these evidences, but my heart broke when I got to the last one. "When you tears are dried up and the hard, cold spiritual facts of your existence cannot unleash them, see this as an awful testimony both of the hardness of your heart and the depth of your backsliding." You see, my heart gets hard quickly. If I'm not in the Word, my heart grows hard. When I get hurt, my heart gets hard. When I don't spend quality time with the Father in prayer, my heart grows hard. It is then that I hate myself the most! I grow so disgusted with myself - I know how to fix it, but now my prideful, hard heart will not admit to defeat and throw myself at the foot of the cross where I should be. Oh beloved, it's not too late! Just as I have so many times before; just as I do now - daily, throw yourself at the foot of the cross and cling to the One who came and lived a sinless life, die on the cross to pay for all the crap listed above that we do, and not only died for us, but gave us His righteousness so that we may stand before the Father. With news like that, why do we waste years in a backslidden state?

Today is the day - let's make it count to the glory of the Father!

Sola de Gloria!

(More thoughts to come...)