Avoiding the Backslide

I posted previously about reacting to God's discipline. Now, suppose that we react appropriately, and God removes (or lessens) our affliction. What next?

Unfortunately, when God sends us blessings and good fortune, it's easy to become comfortable and fall into spiritual complacency. Turning to 2 Chronicles 12, God has established Rehoboam as king of Judah. Then, in verse 1 (NLT),

When Rehoboam was firmly established and strong, he abandoned the Law of the Lord, and all Israel followed him in this sin.

The subsequent verses describe how, after this backsliding into sin, God inflicted punishment upon the nation.

The New Testament speaks even more directly about the dangers of backsliding into sin. Turning to 2 Peter 2:21-22 (NLT),

It would be better if they had never known the way to righteousness than to know it and then reject the command they were given to live a holy life. They prove the truth of this proverb: “A dog returns to its vomit.” And another says, “A washed pig returns to the mud.”

Similarly, in John 5:14 (NLT), Jesus, after running into someone he had previously healed, says,

Now you are well; so stop sinning, or something even worse may happen to you.

And, again, in Luke 11:24-26 (NLT), Jesus says,

When an evil spirit leaves a person, it goes into the desert, searching for rest. But when it finds none, it says, ‘I will return to the person I came from.’ So it returns and finds that its former home is all swept and in order. Then the spirit finds seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they all enter the person and live there. And so that person is worse off than before.

The message is clear. When we are fortunate enough to have our affliction lifted (or lessened), we must fill our spirits with God. Do not return to a sinful lifestyle.