INTRODUCTION
Have we ever thought about a child denying his father's paternity? It hurts my heart a lot. And he risks being banned. This reminds me of when my father and the family wanted to banish me from because I agreed to follow the Lord JC (summoned three times), that's human. God has not banished us, but it happens that children of God abandon the way of the Lord: backsliding. And there some will say that it does not concern them. Now Adam had backslidden by listening to Satan and departing from God; Genesis 3:8 Then they heard the voice of the LORD God going through the garden toward evening, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the face of the LORD God, among the trees of the garden. 9 But the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, Where are you? 10 He answered, I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself. They were far from the presence of God, is this backsliding? What is downshifting or retrogression?
DEFINITION
Retrogression is the act of leaving a higher level (grade) for a lower level (grade). It is the act of going backwards, not backwards to jump better but to move away from the Lord. It can have several causes. But what could be its causes?
DEVELOPMENT
There are several causes behind the backsliding of Christians. The list we will give here is not exhaustive:
-THE BAD HEART: HEBREWS 3:12 [Therefore beware] brethren, take care, lest there be in any one of you a wicked, unbelieving heart [which refuses to cleave to, trust in, and rely on Him], leading you to turn away and desert or stand aloof from the living God.
When the heart is good, it is ready to obey the word of God. But when our heart becomes evil, the truth that was preached that we loved is no longer in us. We consider speech too harsh. Something that we cannot do without harmful consequences, something that is difficult to live with and we refuse to change, it can push us to abandon faith in Jesus Christ). It is true that if we are too rigorous (inventing laws to punish others, which laws will not serve for edification) we can lose members of our assembly but if what we say is based on the Bible those who will accept will be a light for a desperate world, a relief for the church.
-LOVE OF THE WORLD 2 Timothy 4:10 For Demas has deserted me for love of this present world and has gone to Thessalonica; Crescens [has gone] to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia. a man worked with great men of God like Paul, Luke and many others but later withdrew for the pleasures of the world. He found that there were risks in serving the Lord seeing the sufferings of the apostle Paul, the privations that Christians endure (we deprive ourselves, we abstain from certain things to be approved by the Lord). He who does not want this, therefore chooses to give up. Isn't this the case for us when we observe the ways of those who do not know the Lord (we find that they lead the best lives).
We can see people who followed or served the Lord wholeheartedly but who in the meantime will begin to grow cold little by little until they die out (abandon the Lord).
- LOSS OF ASSURANCE, something different from faith (FIRM ASSURANCE from Hebrews 11:1)
HEBREWS 10:35 Do not, therefore, fling away your fearless confidence, for it carries a great and glorious compensation of reward. Here is when we see something no matter how small to inspire confidence in us, for example, if someone promises us a house even though he did not build it, if he brought the cement and the irons, we have the assurance that it will do it or if we wait for the rain and see the clouds we have the assurance that there will be rain until its abortion.
Often the passage of time and an uncertain future lead us to lack confidence in Jesus Christ despite what he has already done in our lives. It’s as if he’s stopped. Then we no longer have confidence in God, even less in his servants. Except the Bible tells us to always wait.
-TO HARM THE CHURCH 2 Timothy 4:14 Alexander the coppersmith did me great wrongs. The Lord will pay him back for his actions.
Some say to themselves, I'm going to leave the church and I'll see how they do. It's because I'm here that the work moves forward, otherwise... With the gifts and knowledge I have, if I leave it's serious. Alexander the smith was someone who worked with Paul, but he began to teach heresies and was the cause of Paul's arrest because this man was no longer following the ways of the Lord. If he had the ability, he was going to make him die forever because he didn't want Paul anymore.
-IMMATURITY: what can be easily achieved is what is not mature. Adults are more resistant to diseases than infants. An unripe seed is easily destroyed by worms. Ignorance or poor knowledge of God's word can cause us to make the wrong decision.
-UNDERESTIMATION/DISCRIMINATION: some who say they are inconsiderate leave the church. But this is not the solution. Since the beginning of my conversion if I was going to say that I did not receive visitors so it is of no use to me to walk with the Lord, I was too far away a long time ago. Since I didn't receive any. The Lord makes all things good, I received the Louis Bible from my brother-in-law very early on to which I was very attached and it helped me a lot. I went through difficulties until I ran out of fuel to travel and food while the lady was training in another city. It was when I had to go and do a work and I wasn't going to be able to carry it out because I no longer had funds that the team knew there was a problem and came to my aid. But after that I no longer hoped for anything and until now the Lord has helped me. Sometimes we think people know about our problems and refuse to help us. Perhaps no one knows the struggle we have with the Lord. Some people can help us but will refuse, don't let that discourage us, we are here for our salvation and not for others.
SIGNS OF RETROGRADATION
HEBREWS 10:25 Not forsaking or neglecting to assemble together [as believers], as is the habit of some people, but admonishing (warning, urging, and encouraging) one another, and all the more faithfully as you see the day approaching.
On the collective level: the one who backslides gradually abandons the assembly. He no longer participates in prayers or Sunday services without a valid reason (service, illness, travel) or does so intermittently.
On an individual level: He lacks a life of prayer, mediation, zeal to serve the Lord (not so that we can be seen but sincerely) and he returns to bad habits. When a fire wants to go out, the flame gradually diminishes until it is extinguished.
WHAT CAN BE THE CONSEQUENCES?
PERSONAL CONSEQUENCES
THE PERIL
ISAIAH 1:28 But the crushing and destruction of rebels and sinners shall be together, and they who forsake the Lord shall be consumed.
When we abandon the way of salvation and do not return, the end is to perish (to die and be destined for hell). This is not God's wish, much less ours. Lost sheep are exposed to dangers: they can be devoured by the cold, animals or diseases. Like the prodigal son, we lose much when we fall back. When the younger son went away from home with his belongings, he scattered them. And back home, it was empty-handed. To get them back, it may still take a little time. We will relearn some things that were familiar to us. A child who is learning to walk, if illness slows down this process, he must start again.
COLLECTIVE CONSEQUENCES
CONTEMPT TO THE CHURCH
JERÉMY 38:19 And Zedekiah the king said to Jeremiah, I am afraid of the Jews who have deserted to the Chaldeans, lest the enemy deliver me into their [these former subjects'] hands and they mock me and abuse me.
Some who leave offend the church (not to be confused with those who want to do harm by leaving). These leave and start it. They will even be an obstacle for those who manifest the desire to come on the path of salvation.
WHAT ATTITUDES TO HAVE TOWARDS THE DETROGRADATION?
WHAT SHOULD WE DO (we who are still in the faith)?
Before we treat someone in a certain way, we must ask ourselves what will Lord Jesus Christ do in our place? Then we will know how to go about it; our attitude towards the demoted. Do we not despise those who are no longer with us? Do we have the courage to always call them brothers and sisters even if it is not in the Lord, in the nation, if the person wants to complain. Aren't we here talking bad about them. Do we not avoid their paths? Now the Lord Jesus tells us that if one sheep was in the fold and was lost, it is better to leave the rest and go in search of the lost one; Luke 15:4 What man of you, if he has a hundred sheep and should lose one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness (desert) and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his [own] shoulders, rejoicing.
We must pray for those who have strayed from the Lord so that He will have mercy on them and bring them to Himself.
When the father of the prodigal son saw him from afar, he went to meet him. If it was us, we were either going to turn our backs or go inside and wait for him to come knocking. And knowing that it’s him, we’re going to ask is it? Ah we have to go back. If he receives a bad reception, he can return to destruction forever. We will think that he has come back and is going to leave again. During the War of Separation of 1861-1865 WHICH pitted the two Americas against each other, several authorities came to see President Abraham Lincoln. While everyone was waiting for their turn, his little boy came and entered his father's house without knocking on the door. People were complaining but the secretary said that the president said never to stop him from coming to him. God has no protocol for accessing Him. If we come back, he welcomes us with open arms.
WHAT SHOULD HE WHO HAS TURNED FROM THE LORD DO?
Return without hesitation; LUKE 15:18 I will arise and go to my father, and say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.
CONCLUSION
Man's salvation comes through the Lord Jesus Christ, but certain circumstances lead some people to stray from faith in Him. Faced with all this, nothing should discourage us. GOD being love receives those who come to Him.
GOD BLESS YOU !