Watch the video below by Steve Mcvey, Christian Religion Lie #82 “You Can Backslide From God” and my illustrious comments follow (as always!)…
OhmyGod! I used to hear this stuff all the time…
- “You’re a backslidin’ Christian…”
- “You needta get back “right” with God…”
- “Oh, I think he’s a Christian, but he’s a backslider… haven’t seen him in Church in a while…”
And then you hear that you need to do something to get yourself back “right” with God. But the truth is, it’s a lie. Here’s why:
What’s wrong with this lie?
It causes you to feel self condemnation for not being “good enough” to maintain your intimacy with God. It keeps you from feeling like a good Christian.
You’re constantly analyzing your actions to make sure you’re not “backsliding”… to make sure you’re still moving closer to God instead of away from Him.
What does the Bible say?
This doesn’t apply to you and I who have accepted Christ as our savior. It’s an old testament idea. The truth is: you can’t get away from God, you’re in UNION with Him.
1 Cor. 6:17 (NIV) says:
“But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit.”
You can’t get away from God, you’re in UNION with God because you’re in Christ. So your actions and your behavior have nothing to do with how “close” you are to God.
You’re already as close as you can ever get to someone. You’re literally a PART of God, a partaker of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4).
And this union had nothing to do with your actions, attitude or behavior in the first place. God did it all. So now that you’re in Him, there’s nothing you can do with your actions, attitude, or behaviors that will separate you from Him — get you “backsliddin”.
Ask yourself: Do you really think you are more powerful than the almighty… the creator of EVERYTHING… the being in existence before the world began? Of course not! If God wants to keep you a part of Him — you are. End of story.
Nothing can separate you from God — especially not yourself, your actions. You’re simply NOT that powerful. Romans 8:38-39 (NASB) says:
“For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
You can’t get away from God. He loves you too much to give up on you.
Your perceptions and emotions are wrong.
Your PERCEPTION is the only thing that changes. You may feel like you’re not intimate with Him… like He’s not close to you anymore… because of your actions, attitude, or behavior. But it’s not true.
When you feel self-condemned, depressed, uneasy, like you’re not “Good enough” because you believe you’re a backslider. Reassure yourself of the FACTS. Reassure yourself of the truth. And tell those emotions to fall in line with what you know to be true.
Trust the facts, Trust GOD, not your emotions. You can’t be a backslider, because God loves you too much.
With Love 
Caleb
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Kelly 09.05.08 at 2:59 pm
I dissagree with Tthis you can back slide when you take your eyes off of God. I know because I have done this at times He dosn’t walk away from us but we can and do walk awy from Him. The word says that His spirit wont always strive with man and it also says to come out from them and be ye seperate
calebo 09.05.08 at 3:26 pm
Kelly,
thank you for your comment but I have to disagree with you
You may THINK you have “backsliddin” from God because your PERCEPTION is that you are no longer close to Him because you have “taken your eyes of Him”… “sinned”… or whatever makes you feel that way.
But this is only your perception.
The truth is “”I will never leave you nor forsake you” — Jesus”.
This poem is very honest in the way it describes our PERCEPTION not always being in line with the truth:
With Love
Caleb
Janice 09.25.08 at 8:32 am
I have to agree with Kelly. I, too, have taken my eyes off the Lord. He didn’t leave me but I left Him. I know this as the Holy Spirit continually called me to turn back, but I ignored Him.
Joel Brueseke 10.13.08 at 3:45 am
You can’t leave Him.
As Caleb said, that’s a false perception. 
When you first put your trust in Him, He came to dwell in you and He’s been in you ever since. When He became your life, the old person that you were in Adam DIED, and you were given a brand new life as you were raised together with Jesus. This is now your life, even when you sin. When you sin, you simply are following the flesh and are not behaving as the person that you truly are in Christ. You are righteous. You are holy. You are pure. And in Christ, you are complete.
The Holy Spirit hasn’t ever called you “back,” because you’ve never been gone! He may have reminded you of who you truly are – a beloved child of God – and He may have lovingly disciplined you as a Father who loves His child dearly, but you have always, always, always, always been in His grip and you have never strayed from Him. Again, perhaps in your mind you’ve felt astray, but in reality (the reality of the truth of New Covenant scripture) you have never been even a millimeter away from Him!
The gospel is good news!
calebo 10.13.08 at 4:50 pm
Joel,
Nice to see you comment!
Perception VS reality. Man what a discussion that is all by itself!
with love
Caleb
Eunice 11.17.08 at 3:45 am
Thank you so much brother. This post made me cry :’(. The part about being one in Spirit with God and that He loves me too much to give up on me really touched my heart. Thank you I needed to hear this right now
calebo 11.17.08 at 5:11 pm
Eunice,
You’re very welcome. God’s love is great isn’t it?
With Love
Caleb
Eddie 04.01.09 at 3:46 pm
the bible says that sin seperates us from God. When you accept Jesus and baptize you are a new creature in him. As a christian if you are not reading the word daily and not assembly yourselves with other christians and praying daily you can easily fall back to your old ways. Although God had not left you but you have left him and unless you repent for your mistakes (sins) you can have no personnal relationship with him. The bible says it is like a dog turning back to it’s on vomit, when he has accept your forgiveness and then you say you are going to serve him and his will, then you do for a little while and then you fall away to doing the same things you use to do and more. That is called backsliding. But where God has not left you means that you can repent and then do your first works over and learned from your mistakes. Otherwise if you die in your sins you cannot go to Heaven. Because as a christian or a sinner, a sin is a sin you do the wrong. God Bless……
calebo 09.08.09 at 3:44 pm
@ Eddie: This …
… is wrong.
You can have a personal relationships with him no matter what because He has already forgiven you of all your sins, past present and future.
Love,
Caleb
CHoogie 05.12.10 at 12:06 pm
Many years ago when I was saved, I was blown away by God’s love for me just as I was and I didn’t have to clean up my act before I asked Him to come into my life. There have been a couple of times that I put Him on the back burner and followed the world’s direction, only to feel out of control and miserable and He always brought me back with words of encouragement and love.