The backslider is one who ceases to go forward. He has lost momentum. The word “backsliding” is printed right in your Bible.
A backslider cannot convince himself. He is a fugitive from his own conscience. He must, somehow, get away from himself and shake off the thousand witnesses which he carries about him before he can be alone.
This is the misery of the backslider! His conscience is awakened by the Spirit of God. It is a ceaseless cross-examination. A man who has once lived under the smile of God finds the agony when that smile has turned to a frown. You think of the past, the fellowship you enjoyed and the spirit which filled your life. Now you are overwhelmed with misery. The backslider is the unhappiest person in the community.
The backslider knows a lonesomeness and misery that he wouldn’t wish on a dog. He gets to the place where he just keeps on blaming himself. He says it again and again, “I don’t blame God. I just blame myself. I don’t see how God could ever forgive me and trust me again.”
I must bring you a word of encouragement. I speak to you, backslider. “If any man isn, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and He is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also, for the sins of the whole world” (I John 2:1, 2).
I believe it with all my heart when God says through His word “Now is the accepted time…now is the day of salvation.” If God doesn’t want to wait until tomorrow, then why should you linger any longer in your backsliden miserable condition. Turn toward him in open confession of your need right now. You are guaranteed a welcome. What more can you ask.
