Backsliding from the Truth - Isaiah 56-58 and II Thessalonians 2

We don't use the term "backsliding" much anymore, but it is a Biblical word. It describes the tendency for people to come to know the truth and then, to allow themselves to drift away from it. The result is sliding back away from the Lord. This is what happened to Israel over and over, and it still happens to us today, if we are not careful. The strange thing about backsliding is that we should be able to see it happening, but we are blinded by the sins we allow to come in, so we can't see it. We do not allow God's Word to be our judge and our plumb line standard to see that we have drifted from God. That is what we need to do, and we need to do it each day. The Israelites even had Gentiles coming to believe in God and to keep the covenant, but they could not see that they were not keeping it. The had started fasting for the wrong reason, and they were failing to keep the Sabbath. They did not realize these things until God pointed them out to them. The believers in Thessalonica heard Paul's teaching on the end of time, but when they had someone else come, they forgot what they had learned and drifted from God's truth. Paul had to try to get them back where they should be. Let's learn an important lesson from all of this. Don't let yourself backslide! Hold fast to what you have learned from God's Word. Don't allow your motives to change. Hold on to a close relationship with God, and do not let anyone tempt you to slack off in any area. That is never good for you. It is sin, and it brings the judgment of God.

Tomorrow, I intend to read Isaiah 59-61 and Ii Thessalonians 3.