Its a Backslide
Sometimes I like to pick at old wounds until they bleed. I know it’s no good for me, but I do it anyway. Maybe the urge is because it’s healing. The enemy doesn’t want this wound to heal, so he makes it very appealing to go back there. Now it hurts, and I’ve got backslides on the brain.
We're all on Calvary hill carrying our crosses, and at the top, what do we find? Death. We find death. But as Christians, we know that's not the end. Death to ourselves brings us new life with Jesus.
If you are a new Christian and you’re experiencing your first backslide, ask yourself: Did you think the enemy was going to give you up that easily?
The spiritual journey is an uphill battle. You might see Christians full of joy and think they made it! That must be what it looks like to be on top! But that's not true at all. Those who had “made it” are now saints in heaven. Those Christians are now a cloud of witnesses cheering us on. As long as we’re on this earth, we are still climbing. That’s an important fact to remember that you will backslide and to expect it. The enemy will throw stumbling blocks in your path. To think the perfect Christian never stumbles will only cause your moments of failure to send you further down the hill. When you've slid down in your climb and you're lying in the mud of your own mistakes and failures, it can be so easy to let the enemy's lies slip in (he’s a kick-you-while-your-down kind of spirit). You’ll feel further from God, and you’ll believe you are just too dirty, too clumsy, too broken for this climb. If you just took two steps forward and slid three steps back, I want to be that hand reaching out to help you up, saying, “I've been there too.”
So what's their secret? Why do these seasoned Christians seem to have already made it if the truth is that they stumble too? You might even notice Christians make this climb with joy. What is that?
They've learned to stand back up. They know to expect falls and when that happens, they stand up, let their Father wash them clean, and keep going. They know they don't have to carry the dirt and rocks from their sin with them. With this, each fall will be shorter and easier to get back up. Knowing to expect falls and rejoicing in God's redemption makes the walk a whole lot more joyful.
Today I’m experiencing a backslide. I feel the pull of a former life. Sometimes it's luring with the temptations of my past, but today it's more like a dragging down. I don’t want to go back there, but it’s after me. Past pains are at the forefront of my brain, daring my imagination to go there. These are the days when prayer is essential but likely the last thing you want to do. I’ve navigated backslides the wrong way enough to know what not to do. Today I stuck to my prayers and continued my typical bible routine. I cast out the evil spirits poking at me. Now the day is coming to a close. Soon, I’m going to rest is God’s refuge then rise and continue my climb.