Backslipping and Sidesliding

Galatians 5: 7-8 You were running the race so well. Who has held you back from following the truth? It certainly isn't God, for he is the one who called you to freedom. (NLT)

Sometimes in this Christian walk we can grow weary. We can become distracted. Inevitably we start out on fire for God but the race we find ourselves in is not a sprint it is a marathon. It is endurance that will win in the end, not a quick burst of speed. And the enemy is patient beloved. He will wait until you are at your weakest. He will wait until he knows you are tired. Is there peace with God? Absolutely. Is there assurance and protection with God? Absolutely. But there is also a denial of self that grates against the very humanity we were born into:

Then he said to the crowd, "If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. Luke 9: 23-24 (NLT)

Because regardless of the peace, assurance and protection, the world always pushes back. It is in a constant struggle with the spirit within us for prominence in our minds. This struggle is a daily struggle which is why Jesus teaches here that we must pick up our cross daily and follow Him. Remember the devil has already lost the war for your soul so now his objective is to make you ineffectual for the work God has called you to. If he can get you distracted or enamored with the things that are not of God, then he can get you to not pick up your cross daily and follow Jesus. We are in a battle and we must be aware of the strategies of the enemy. The Bible says he is like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. The devoured Christian we often refer to as someone who has backslidden.

Backsliding is a Christianism we use to describe someone who has relapsed into bad habits, sinful behavior, or undesirable activities. It really is an extreme term however and it is derived from many places in the Old Testament, where God is describing Israel:

Why has this people slidden back, Jerusalem, in a perpetual backsliding? They hold fast to deceit, They refuse to return. Jeremiah 8: 5 (NKJV)

Perpetual, holding fast to deceit, refusing to return. THAT is what we typically think of when we hear the term backslidden.  But the reality is that backsliding is a process just like anything else. You do not go to bed one night in the utter obedience of God and wake up and decide you would rather backslide. Instead the progression is usually slow and insidious. A compromise here, a poor decision there. The better we can become at recognizing the earlier stages, the better we can be at combating the enemy and avoiding the backslidden state. So we will attempt to create two new Christianisms today backslipping and sidesliding.  

Remember that the Christian walk is often compared to a race. Even our key verses refer to it as such. When we visualize someone sliding we see someone who is out of control. Maybe someone who is on ice and cannot regain proper footing. The "back" portion refers to the direction the person is going. Once saved, there is only one direction we should be heading and that is full speed ahead with Christ! Thus the backsliding person is heading in the opposite direction backwards and doing so in a manner of being out of control. They are not walking backwards, which would indicate some level of purposefulness. They are indeed sliding backwards, perhaps even out of control.

But the sliding starts with slippage. When we visualize slipping, we see something that is temporary and correctable. It is an "oops" moment instead of an "oh my God" moment in our lives. It is subtle perhaps not even noticeable. It affects us all. Maybe we become a bit spiritually lazy in our approach with God. Maybe where we used to read the Word of God daily, we find excuses for not doing so. Perhaps our prayer life is suffering as we struggle to find the time for God that we once gave. We can fall for the trap sometimes of thinking the things of God in our lives are easy. As if they do not require work:

For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 2Timothy 1: 6 (NIV)

This is Paul reminding Timothy that he too must work at his walk. He must fan into flame the gift of God within him the Holy Spirit. We are no different. Without tending to it, a fire goes out. When we are faced with the Christian walk, which is often long and arduous, we can become spiritually lazy. We can take for granted the power of God. We can even take for granted the relationship we have with God.

That is really where backslipping occurs. It infects the relationship we have with God. Paul exhorts us:

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed--not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence--continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, - Philippians 2: 12 (NIV)

As the walk grows longer we can lose our sense of reverence before God. We cease to "work out" our salvation and instead start to view it as an event in our past. The NLT translation of this verse says that we need to "show the results of our salvation" by "obeying God with deep reverence and fear." Instead, we can start to take for granted the relationship we have with God. In this life there is nothing more important than our relationship with God. Nothing. Why? Because He has all the answers! He sees all time! He is omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent. And if that was not enough, we have this promise:

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28 (NIV)

Yet the things of this world worry us perpetually. The pains of this life weigh us down constantly. They chip away at our relationship with God. Maybe we worry about our career, our finances, our children, our education, our past, our present, or our future. What we fail to realize in the midst of the worry is that these are the very things that can either drive us deeper into our relationship with God trusting by faith that Romans 8:28 will come to pass - or erode our faith and our relationship with God. Too often it is the latter as our relationship with God is slowly eroded by the cares of this world. We compromise, we defer, and we can get lazy. We start backslipping. It is just a slip. We are not out of control; we just lose sight of what is important. Jesus taught:

So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Matthew 6: 31-34 (NIV)

When we backslip, we can start to worry more about our problems and focus less on our problem solver. We stop seeking. The answers to any problem we face in this life can be found in our relationship with God. It is not within our power but only through the power of the Holy Spirit. It is not within the answers or promises the world gives which are empty and fleeting but rather they are found in God whose answers are always yes and amen!

While backslipping is a matter of spiritual lethargy, sidesliding is more an issue of spiritual stagnation. We can get to the point in our walk where we may not be looking backwards but we are not exactly looking forward either. We can become spiritually complacent. We are saved by the blood of Jesus Christ, serve in a ministry, tithe correctly, and maybe even have decent spiritual habits when it comes to prayer and reading God's Word. At the same time however we are satisfied with where we are. We get to a plateau, through the grace of God alone, and then we kind of sit down. We have our fire insurance policy from hell but we just hunker down and wait until Jesus comes.

Can you imagine of the Apostle Paul decided to sideslide? After Paul had completed his first missionary journey, I am sure the temptation was there to rest upon his laurels. He could have felt that he had accomplished something big and simply been satisfied with what he had already accomplished. Instead of looking forward, he could have started to slide sideways in his walk. But Paul always understood that God always has another level for you to go to if you are willing to pursue Him. If Paul had gotten spiritually complacent after his first journey than what would have happened to the areas he would evangelize on his second and third missionary journeys? I am always amazed whenever God uses me but I think we need to be even more reverent than that. Paul always understood that:

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3: 12-14 (NIV)

Reflect for a moment and appreciate the context of this passage. The Book of Philippians was written approximately in 61AD, when Paul is in prison in Rome. This is AFTER all of his missionary journeys, when he knows his time is short on this earth. He has already evangelized the known world and been given insight into the third heaven by God Almighty! But regardless of the success and multitude of churches he started, there was no sidesliding for Paul. He does not even consider himself as having arrived at his goal! He does not believe he has yet taken hold of that thing for which God had taken hold of him! But look at the one thing he does! What direction does he continue to reinforce? Straining toward what is ahead pressing on toward the goal heavenward! There is no looking back to what he had already done. There is no looking to the left or the right. Spiritual lethargy is avoided by two things straining and moving in the correct direction. Paul is constantly looking forward to the next thing God has for him. Not just content with all he has already done and not just content to be heading in the right direction Paul strains toward what God has for him next. Straining indicates that Paul is striving. He is deliberately seeking. There is nothing passive about his Christianity and neither should there be anything passive about ours. There is no time to be sidesliding in our walk. There is still too much to be done.

Beloved, I say these things not a casual observer but as someone who struggles just like everyone else. The temptation is always there to become spiritually lazy or spiritually complacent in my walk. The backslidden state is a terrible thing to fall into. But it is a process that can be stopped when the earlier stages are identified. It is too easy to look at a word such as backslidden and actually feel better about ourselves because we know we are not that far gone.

The LORD said also to me in the days of Josiah the king: "Have you seen what backsliding Israel has done? She has gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and there played the harlot. Jeremiah 3: 6 (NKJV)

And we too can play the harlot before our God if we are not careful. We can lose our sense of reverence and awe. Remember, the spiritual adultery God is charging Israel with through Jeremiah did not happen overnight. Adultery rarely does. Sin begins as a thought. It begins as a slip, not a slide.

If you find yourself slipping today the answer lies back in the relationship you have with God. The answer is in strengthening that relationship through regular prayer time and the daily reading of His Word. The answers you need are found there, not in the world. If you find yourself sliding sideways today the answer lies in the direction you are looking. Do not look to your past accomplishments because God always has another level for you to go to. Do not look to the left or the right either. Moving sideways will guarantee no progress. The only direction God wants us to look toward is forward. But it has to go beyond looking. Christianity is not a spectator sport. It is not a passive endeavor. It requires something from us. We need to be straining toward what God has for us. Never believing that we have discovered the reason why God has gotten a hold of us to begin with. That is how you avoid spiritual stagnation.

Our key verses today see the Apostle Paul lamenting to the church in Galatia. They were running such a good race. We too can find ourselves like the Galatian church. Maybe backslipping maybe sidesliding. Just a little here or there. Just a compromise here and a bad habit there. Something holding us back from following the truth. Always remember that it is God that called you to freedom and the answers will always lie with Him. Let us all recommit to our relationship with Him today and to the direction He has for our lives. No backslipping. No sidesliding. Just moving forward under the power of the Holy Spirit within us and the grace and mercy of Almighty God before us. In Jesus Name. Amen.

Reverend Anthony Wade January 26, 2011