Backsliding

Hi and thanks for tuning in. It’s been quite some time since I’ve broadcast anything. So today we are going to take a look at backsliding and what that can look like in a Christian’s life.

Have you ever looked up one day and realized you’re not the person you used to be in Christ, and you’re not sure exactly when or how you got there?

Nobody wakes up one morning and says today I’m going to go back to being an alcoholic or a drug addict or a slave to pornography. No, it happens one step at a time.
Maybe your friends are going to a bar and you want to hang out with them. You say to yourself I’ll just be the designated driver. But once you get there your friends convince you to have just one. One drink won’t hurt. So you take that first step. Now your judgment is clouded and you notice an attractive young lady across the room. You’re married, but what would it hurt to just have a conversation. So you take another step. By the time the evening ends you’re intoxicated and saying and doing things with this young lady that you have no business doing.
Each step you took led you one step further from your first love. You had been sober for years, walking the right path — but you looked back. In a moment of weakness you let your steps carry you somewhere you never intended to go.

Luke 9:61-62 NKJV – ”
62 But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

If we were to dig a little deeper in this story we’d see that the first step was not the first drink. It wasn’t even that he went to the bar. The first step was choosing to walk with men who were not walking with Christ.

Can we have friends who are not Christians? Yes, we can. But we are to be role models for them, not the other way around.

We are to be in the world but not of the world. These were Jesus’ words in John 17:14-17.

So at the end of the night when this man had to go home and face his wife, he decided that it was best to keep this little indiscretion to himself. When it comes to sin there are no little indiscretions. Unconfessed sin is just one more step on a slippery slope that slides us further on our backs.

Psalm 32:3-5 – When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy on me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.’ And you forgave the guilt of my sin.

For this man the weight of carrying around all this baggage, the secrets, the lies, the guilt and the shame have become a burden that he cannot bear. The choice for him is simple: either man up or clam up.
When we choose to continue to live outside God’s will our hearts begin to harden. We have to become emotionally dead so that we can deal with our secrets. Nobody wants to deal with guilt and shame.
This man believes that his relationship with his wife will continue to be the same. But in reality he can never have that same relationship. His actions have caused him to pull away from his wife. He can never really look her in the eyes and feel the connection they once had.

But if he man’s up and confesses to God and to his wife, those burdens will be lifted. His marriage may or may not survive this. But, in reality his marriage was already compromised and was heading in the wrong direction.

Ezekiel 36:26-27 NIV – 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.

Before I came to Christ I was this man. I was being crushed by all the baggage that I was carrying. Yet I felt like I was still in control. That I could get out of this cycle of deceit and lies. But in reality, I was in a prison of my own making. Ironic, since when I finally went to prison it was the first time I felt totally free.

Maybe you know exactly what that prison feels like. The one you built yourself. The good news is the same door that let me out is open for you.

When we take our eyes off of Jesus, we automatically put our focus on worldly pursuits. So redirect those eyes toward things of eternal value. It’s your eyes that draw you either towards God or towards an uncertain future. The eyes can be the catalyst for lust, covetousness and idol worship. Your eyes truly are the gateway to your soul.

1 John 2:15 KJV – 5 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

So what have you been looking at or listening to this week that is pulling you towards the world and away from God? If you find yourself in that position, don’t keep it to yourself. Reach out to someone and if you don’t have a safe person to talk to, a Celebrate Recovery meeting is exactly the kind of place where nobody in that room is going to judge you for what you’re carrying. Definitely pray about it and turn away from those stumbling blocks. Deal with it now, before it deals with you.

But sometimes the stumbling block isn’t the world pulling us in, sometimes it’s a door that was slammed shut and leaves you disappointed.

Just recently I was told I was no longer allowed to go back into the prison for ministry. That was a major disappointment. I didn’t blame God but I was disappointed that he had closed that door on me.

Initially it was a punch in the gut. But now I just see it as God redirecting me to where he truly needs me. I can either wait for that door to open or I can take matters into my own hands and just plow ahead blindly.

When I was allowed in the prison, I wasn’t permitted to have phone calls, write letters, or visit with individual inmates. Now I can do all of that. I don’t know yet exactly where God is leading me but I can already see that the door that closed wasn’t just a loss. It was a repositioning.

When we let disappointment gnaw at us instead of bringing it to God, that’s when we start to drift away. But when we trust the repositioning, we stay in step with Him even when we can’t see where we’re headed.

Our emotions can be the catalyst for falling away from God. There are four emotional triggers that can lead to back sliding and they are loneliness, grief, stress, and boredom.
We’ve all experienced these emotional pitfalls. It’s what we do with them when we are in the middle of an emotional crisis that either leads us to the cross or leads us to isolation, depression, and hopelessness.

I had a friend who was in Celebrate Recovery with me and was doing quite well. He had been clean for 7 years. He had been living with his mom and she kept him on the straight and narrow. His circumstances changed and he landed a good job and had his own place and he got a car. He had everything going for him but emotionally he felt as though he didn’t deserve it. The whole situation had him stressed out. As a result he ended up relapsing.

He had everything going for him on the outside, but on the inside he was drowning in stress and a feeling that he didn’t deserve any of it. And when we feel unworthy of good things, we have a way of sabotaging them.

Loneliness, grief, and boredom are equally dangerous — they create empty space that the enemy is happy to fill.

Despite his relapse my friend eventually found his way back. It was a long road and it took some time, but God was able to rebuild his life and restore that peace that surpasses understanding.

2 Chronicles 7:14 NKJV – 14 if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

I’d like to thank you for listening and as always may you have a week full of opportunities to share this good news with those that need to hear it. Let’s just go to the Lord in prayer.
Heavenly Father, may we always keep our eyes on things of eternal value and not the things of this world. Let us not be led to and fro by our emotions, but let us lean on You and trust in your will for our lives. Lord when you close a door let us wait with anticipation for what you would have for us to do. May we always be open about what we are going through and be willing to share our trials with you and with someone we trust. In Jesus’ name we pray, and to Him be all the honor and glory. Amen.