Where do you stand on your new year’s resolutions? Have you slid backwards away from your goals? Have you put on a few pounds that you had recently lost? When I was running on a regular basis, I was getting stronger and faster. My health was getting better as my weight was going down.
As I reduced the amount that I was running because of other priorities or excuses of why I could keep up the regiment, I noticed my strength going down. I could not run as far or as fast. My weight started to creep up. It did not take a long time to slide backwards. I also realized that if I focused on my goal again and put that effort back in that I used to have, I was able to gain back the strength and run the distances again. I started to get stronger.
Have you backslid as a Christian? Most adult have at some point in their life. It could be that during your college years or early adult life, you quit going to church. You still had faith but did not have that continuous feeding to strengthen it. It might be that you had a routine of doing daily devotions or praying the rosary and then you had a stretch that you quit doing it.
2 John 1:8 says Watch out that you do not lose what we have worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully. When you backslide, you lose some of what you had previously gained. At a minimum, you lose your momentum. Maybe you slipped away even further. That is no problem. Just come back to God and continue your spiritual growth. We learn from the parable of the prodigal son, that God welcomes us back with open arms and celebration.
The younger son asked his father for his share of his inheritance and set off on his own. Poor decisions and misfortune caused him to lose it all and found himself with nothing left including anything to eat. He humbled himself and went back to his father. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
“The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
The older son was mad because his brother had squandered away his inheritance and yet his father was not only welcoming him back, he was throwing a big celebration for him. The father said this. “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found'”
We will all backslide in our spiritual growth. When you realize that you have done this, Set your eyes back on Jesus and you will see Him with open arms waiting for you to come back. The full parable of the prodigal son can be read in Luke 15: 11-32.
Are you growing spiritually, or have you been in a state of regression? Remember, backsliding is not just going backward; it is a failure to go forward. Why not make a fresh commitment today to move forward in your relationship with Jesus?
