Friday March 01st, 2024
« I can guarantee that there will be more happiness in heaven over one person who turns to God and changes the way they think and acts than over 99 people who already have turned to God and have His approval »
1Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach.
2 This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that He was associating with such sinful people—even eating with them!
3 So Jesus told them this story:
4 “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it?
5 And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders.
6 When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’
7 In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away!
8 “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Won’t she light a lamp and sweep the entire house and search carefully until she finds it?
9 And when she finds it, she will call in her friends and neighbors and say, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost coin.’
10 In the same way, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels when even one sinner repents.”
11 To illustrate the point further, Jesus told them this story: “A man had two sons.
12 The younger son told his father, ‘I want my share of your estate now before you die.’ So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons.
13 “A few days later this younger son packed all his belongings and moved to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money in wild living.
14 About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve.
15 He persuaded a local farmer to hire him, and the man sent him into his fields to feed the pigs.
16 The young man became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him. But no one gave him anything.
17 “When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, ‘At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger!
18 I will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you,
19 and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant.”’
20 “So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him.
21 His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son.’
22 “But his father said to the servants, ‘Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet.
23 And kill the calf we have been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast,
24 for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.’ So the party began.
Backsliding is the act of becoming slack in spiritual commitment and not being fervent in the things of God.
It means turning back from following God’s ways and guidance, forsaking His laws and commandments (Isaiah 1:4).
It is a spiritual defection that grieves God, as it is a form of rebellion and adultery before Him (Jeremiah 3:8).
Backsliders are likely to forget God’s mighty works in their lives, ignore His counsel, and reject His instruction (Psalm 78:11, Psalm 107:11, Isaiah 30:9).
Backsliders are children of God who had repented of their sinful acts and turned a new leaf, but then relapse into their former ungodly ways.
Backsliding is, therefore, like abandoning one’s faith.
As we have learnt from the lessons of the past three days, there is nothing glorious in backsliding.
If anyone is in doubt, let the individual find out from King Saul, who once prophesied by the Spirit of God but ended up being tormented by an evil spirit.
Backsliding is so terrible that it can invoke God’s anger.
In 2 Samuel 12:25 NKJV, the Bible says to David, concerning his new born son, Salomon
« and He sent word by the hand of Nathan the prophet: So he called his name Jedidiah, because of the LORD »
However, in 1 Kings 11:9, the Bible says
« The LORD became angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned from the LORD God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice »
Backsliding ignited the anger of God against Solomon, despite His initial love and affection for him at birth and early life.
God reacted to the backsliding of the nation of Israel similarly, according to Psalm 78:57-59 NLT which says
57 They turned back and were as faithless as their parents. They were as undependable as a crooked bow.
58 They angered God by building shrines to other gods; they made Him jealous with their idols.
59 When God heard them, He was very angry, and He completely rejected Israel
To return to living a glorious life in Christ however, a backslider must do the following:
- Accept Jesus as personal Lord and Savior,
- repent of and forsake every sin,
- and begin to testify to the mercy of God that restored him or her.
Have you fallen from glory to shame?
Return to the Lord, and He will welcome you with open arms, as we saw in our Bible reading today.
God bless you.
Prayer focus – Father, please forgive me for backsliding and make me abide in You forever, in Jesus name.
Author – Bishop Enoch. A. Adeboye.
Edited by Naomie
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