THE CURE FOR BACKSLIDING

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“Return, faithless people; I will cure you of backsliding.”

“Yes, we will come to you, for you are the Lord our God. Surely the idolatrous commotion on the hills and mountains is a deception; surely in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel. From our youth shameful gods have consumed the fruits of our ancestors’ labor—their flocks and herds, their sons and daughters. Let us lie down in our shame, and let our disgrace cover us. We have sinned against the Lord our God, both we and our ancestors; from our youth till this day we have not obeyed the Lord our God.”

“If you, Israel, will return, then return to Me,” declares the Lord. “If you put your detestable idols out of My sight and no longer go astray, and if in a truthful, just and righteous way you swear, ‘As surely as the Lord lives,’ then the nations will invoke blessings by Him and in Him they will boast.”

This is what the Lord says to the people of Judah and to Jerusalem:

“Break up your unplowed ground and do not sow among thorns. Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, circumcise your hearts, you people of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, or my wrath will flare up and burn like fire because of the evil you have done—burn with no one to quench it.”

Jeremiah 3:22-25, 4:1-4

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Have you ever experienced backsliding in your faith walk with the Lord?

I think anyone who was being truly honest with themselves would say they have.

By definition, to backslide is to “relapse into bad ways or error.” In other words, one would have had to already have committed sins before the Lord, expressed commitment to change their ways, and then revert back to bad past behavior to qualify as a backslider.

Now you know why I say that everyone has been guilty of this because no one has lived so perfectly righteous that they haven’t sinned and then never repeated a sin later after repentance.

The Old Testament Israelites were certainly guilty of backsliding in a big way. In fact, I am convinced that this is one of the reasons why God decided He had to send His Son Jesus to walk among man. It wasn’t just to save us because none of us stood a chance against God’s judgment unless someone stepped into the fray to pay the penalty for us. No, Jesus came to show us how to live the way God expected us to live. This is why those who place their faith and belief in Jesus as Savior adopt the new title of Christian, because they are supposed to live Christ-like and the only way to do that is to model the way Jesus carried Himself during His earthly ministry.

Before God sent Jesus, His people certainly didn’t grasp living the kind of life He desired, not by a long shot. Sure, there were glimmers of faithfulness unto their Father in heaven but those glimmers usually came after He had sent His consequences upon them in some form. They changed their ways to get back in His good graces but soon after that, guess what happened?

Yes, you got it. They backslid once again into sin and as you may imagine, this did not make God none too happy with them.

As we do the same thing today, backsliding with the best of them, don’t think for a moment that God isn’t angered just as much at our behavior and don’t think He will not send judgment on anyone in the 21st century just as easily as He did more than 2,000 years ago. We had better check ourselves and do it soon, seeking the way to avoid the very backsliding the Lord despises.

So, how do we do just that? How do we avoid backsliding in our life and what is the ultimate cure for this spiritual affliction?

The answer comes within the closing verses of Jeremiah, Chapter 3 and the opening verses of Chapter 4. Look again at these words here:

“Return, faithless people; I will cure you of backsliding.”

“Yes, we will come to you, for you are the Lord our God. Surely the idolatrous commotion on the hills and mountains is a deception; surely in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel. From our youth shameful gods have consumed the fruits of our ancestors’ labor—their flocks and herds, their sons and daughters. Let us lie down in our shame, and let our disgrace cover us. We have sinned against the Lord our God, both we and our ancestors; from our youth till this day we have not obeyed the Lord our God.”

“If you, Israel, will return, then return to Me,” declares the Lord. “If you put your detestable idols out of My sight and no longer go astray, and if in a truthful, just and righteous way you swear, ‘As surely as the Lord lives,’ then the nations will invoke blessings by Him and in Him they will boast.”

This is what the Lord says to the people of Judah and to Jerusalem:

“Break up your unplowed ground and do not sow among thorns. Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, circumcise your hearts, you people of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, or my wrath will flare up and burn like fire because of the evil you have done—burn with no one to quench it.”  Jeremiah 3:22-25, 4:1-4

Note here that there is only one right answer to the question about backsliding avoidance. If one is going to be cured of repeating the sins of the past, they must first return to the Lord and never turn away again.

What got the Israelites in trouble?

They always chased back after false gods, turning from the only true God as they violated His chief commandment to have no other gods before Him. They had committed spiritual adultery before God and in return became shamed and disgraced for their actions. The only way back into God’s favor was to go back to Him with a renewed commitment and devotion, abandoning the worthless, detestable gods and idols they had been worshipping and turning their fullest dedication to the Lord. This would require not just a circumcision of the bodies (for the Old Testament Israelites were still under the auspices of the Old Covenant law) but also a circumcision of the heart for as God peered deep within them, He expected to see their hearts fully loyal to Him as well as His will and way.

Friends, I don’t know how well your spiritual walk is going but I do know two things:

First, the Lord hates it when we reject Him and turn to sin but He really hates it when we have sinned, promised to not commit the sin again, and then turn around and go back on our word. In other words, He loathes our backsliding. With this, we had better adopt the principles of the second point and that is that the Lord has provided us a cure for our backsliding problem and that cure is Himself. For if we turn back to Him and are serious about leaving sin behind, then He will lead us in His righteousness each and every day, and there will be no place for sin to enter in because we have said goodbye to our own desires and the desires of the world to fully seek and fulfill the desires of the Lord in all we do.

In other words, the Lord will always advance us forward into right living in carrying out His purposes, There is no moving back with Him because we are always led to advance His will and way as we carry out His kingdom work here on earth.

I pray this describes you but if it doesn’t and you fit the definition of a backslider, today’s the day to change all that and recommit your life fully to the Lord. You’ll never regret that decision. Ever.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.

Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com

MESSING UP THINGS

Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com.

In Christ, Mark

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** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“I Myself said, ‘How gladly would I treat you like My children and give you a pleasant land, the most beautiful inheritance of any nation.’ I thought you would call Me ‘Father’ and not turn away from following me. But like a woman unfaithful to her husband, so you, Israel, have been unfaithful to Me,” declares the Lord.

“A cry is heard on the barren heights, the weeping and pleading of the people of Israel, because they have perverted their ways and have forgotten the Lord their God.”

Jeremiah 3:19-21

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

When I have had to do something in the past, something that could have one of two options, I have always jokingly said the following:

“I have a 50/50 chance of messing up.”

We always seem to find things in life weighing out like this as if our choices are balancing on a scale. We can find success or we can experience failure and often times our outcomes are based on whether we do the right thing or not.

Maybe you can relate.

As we continue to look at the word of God from Jeremiah, chapter 3, we find the Lord addressing the people of Israel who had a 50/50 chance of messing up things within the life God had blessed them with. Unfortunately, they turned away from Him and His righteousness, a decision that led to judgment when it could have been blessing. Look again at these verses here:

“I Myself said, ‘How gladly would I treat you like My children and give you a pleasant land, the most beautiful inheritance of any nation.’ I thought you would call Me ‘Father’ and not turn away from following me. But like a woman unfaithful to her husband, so you, Israel, have been unfaithful to Me,” declares the Lord.

“A cry is heard on the barren heights, the weeping and pleading of the people of Israel, because they have perverted their ways and have forgotten the Lord their God.”  Jeremiah 3:16-18

Note here that the Lord was trying to give His people all they could ever ask for. They were His children and He loved them so very much, wanting only the best for them. He gave them a wonderful land to inhabit and settle, the most beautiful inheritance of any nation. All He asked for in return was for His people to be as faithful and devoted to Him as He was to them.

It was a no brainer but do you know what happened?

The people of Israel messed up things and did so royally. They chose to turn away from their Heavenly Father and worship false gods and idols, even though God had commanded them not to. Perverting their ways and sinning openly in His sight, they traded in the blessings the Lord wanted them to receive for His judgment instead.

Why would anyone want to do that? It boggles the mind and yet that’s exactly what the Israelites did and they paid the price for it in a big way.

So what message is this word of God bringing to us today, more than 2,000 years since the people of Israel messed up things badly in Old Testament days?

It’s simple really. You see, we all have a 50/50 chance of messing things up ourselves here in the 21st century. We have the same Heavenly Father and Maker as the Old Testament Israelites who expects that each of us will be faithful to Him, fully devoted to His word and will and way. He desires to bless us with His best gifts as long as we choose to remain committed and obedient to Him.

And yet, we so often decide to be disloyal and unfaithful, giving our attention to the things of the world instead of focusing on the Lord who demands our utmost attention. Sin trumps righteousness and when that happens, watch out because God’s judgment is not far behind. 

So where are you at today in your life? Are you living in the favor of the Lord, loyal and dedicated to Him and Him alone? Or are you messing things up in your life, placing yourself square in the crosshairs of His conviction and punishment?

The choice is yours to make but God has a choice too and He will discipline anyone who rejects and disrespects Him.

Be smart and make sure you are not counted in that number. For you don’t have to be seen as one who messes up things. Rather, you can and will be viewed by your Father in heaven as someone who always gets it right if you always rely on your God who will never lead you wrong.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.

Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com

A COMING AGE

Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com.

In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

In those days, when your numbers have increased greatly in the land,” declares the Lord, “people will no longer say, ‘The ark of the covenant of the Lord.’ It will never enter their minds or be remembered; it will not be missed, nor will another one be made. At that time they will call Jerusalem, The Throne of the Lord, and all nations will gather in Jerusalem to honor the name of the Lord. No longer will they follow the stubbornness of their evil hearts. In those days, the people of Judah will join the people of Israel, and together they will come from a northern land to the land I gave your ancestors as an inheritance.”

Jeremiah 3:16-18

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Let me make two bold statements today.

First, there is a day ahead when the only focus people will have is on Jerusalem and the Lord’s place there.

Second, in this future time, people who were once separated for whatever reason, whether by distance or ideology, will come together as one and gather in the place the Lord provides.

It is a vision of a coming age and it’s not a vision I have had. It’s the vision of a pending reality that the Lord God Almighty shares with His prophet Jeremiah, a vision recorded in the scriptures for us to share in as well. Look at these verses as we continue to study from Jeremiah 3:

In those days, when your numbers have increased greatly in the land,” declares the Lord, “people will no longer say, ‘The ark of the covenant of the Lord.’ It will never enter their minds or be remembered; it will not be missed, nor will another one be made. At that time they will call Jerusalem, The Throne of the Lord, and all nations will gather in Jerusalem to honor the name of the Lord. No longer will they follow the stubbornness of their evil hearts. In those days, the people of Judah will join the people of Israel, and together they will come from a northern land to the land I gave your ancestors as an inheritance.”  Jeremiah 3:16-18

Now you might not think see the significance in these words because we aren’t a people who were invested in the ark of the covenant. Likewise, we weren’t a people who were a divided kingdom as the nation of Canaan was back in Old Testament days with the Israelites breaking up into two factions, the nation of Israel to the north and Judah to the south. But to the people of Jeremiah’s time, these words spoke volumes.

They had held the ark of the covenant in great reverence because not only did God instruct them in how to construct it, He also gave them His commandments to place within it. The words of God went with them wherever they would go and it was of the utmost importance to protect the ark and hold it completely sacred. Any statement that would assert that they would ever forget the ark in the way they lived would have been considered foolish. But that’s exactly what the Lord said would come about and indeed it happened when Jesus returned and brought a new covenant with God’s people, one that required a person follow His ways instead of hauling a wooden chest around. Jesus became the Word made flesh who dwelled among God’s people and still does today. He would be all that anyone would ever need to enter into salvation and a lifetime spent with God and all other who placed their faith and hope in Jesus as Savior.

So where does Jerusalem come into play?

Go to Revelation and the opening verses of chapter 21. You will see that when Jesus returns and God hits the reset button on creation, all Christians will dwell together in a new Jerusalem where the Lord will reign and be honored as the true King of kings and Lord of lords. There will be no other ruler or authority but Him and all those in His kingdom will worship and praise Him solely, no longer victimized by the stubbornness of their own hearts because sin will perish along with the prior heaven and earth.

Go back to my first bold statement and you will see it will happen because the Lord said it would and His promises always come true.

Now, let’s go back to the population of the new Jerusalem. There will be no sense of national origin when Jesus gathers all those who believed in Him for the salvation He promised them. We will not see one another as American or British or African or Asian (or in Old Testament times, Judean or Israelite) but rather as brother and sisters in Jesus Christ and shared residents of Jerusalem, set free from affliction and hardship and pain and sorrow and war to live with one another in perfect light and love and peace.

It’s a day worth looking forward to, the coming age where we can say goodbye to creation as we know it and, if we are in Christ, start over free from the difficulties and trappings of this world.

Will you be there with me?

If you have accepted Jesus as Savior, then the answer is “yes”.

If you haven’t, the answer is “no” but it doesn’t have to be that way. I pray that you will receive Jesus today and seal your future with Him, a future that has no end, a future that offers you the hope of the coming age when Jesus returns.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.

Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com