Backsliding

This morning I grabbed some quiet time with God.

The usual - a good cup of coffee, a quiet place, my Bible and journal. I've been meditating on Jesus' letter to the Ephesians in Revelation 2:1-7.

After wrapping up, I jumped on Twitter to get the latest on what God is doing in the life of so many leaders I love and respect. As God speaks into their lives, He speaks into mine.

One of my "mentors" is Greg Laurie. This morning Greg updated his Twitter account and tweeted, "New blog post: Keep Moving." I clicked the link and stumbled onto a great post about the dangers of backsliding.

Backsliding is rarely talked about anymore. Seems like the "Church" has sadly become comfortable with sin. In some strange way, sin has become like a household pet that we feed, take pleasure in, and sometimes - when we have had enough - yell at or scold.

After reading Revelation 2:1-7 again this morning, Greg's blog really resonated with me. Tragically, I think many pastors and leaders feel it's more loving to steer away from people's sickness, maybe acknowledge it briefly, but ultimately, hope God will move and that people will eventually just figure it out.

But is that Biblical? Think about it, does that approach remotely reflect Jesus' ministry? No, not at all. We are called to uphold God's Truth, because it's Truth that frees us from our sickness (John 8:31-32).

Sure, the best word to express Jesus is love. That tends to be the argument, "I want to love people like Jesus, not point out all their shortfalls." The problem with that mentality is that the greatest expressing of Jesus' love for us is loving us enough to teach the Truth (Matthew 9:11-13).

Jesus loved us enough to carry us to the cross - where repentance, forgiveness, wholeness and freedom happen.

Even the author of Hebrews understood the dangers of backsliding and urges us to embrace our responsibility to hold each other accountable:

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching (Hebrews 10:23-25).

We can't just hope people will figure it out. Yes, God will surely move, that's not disputed. But we must realize - He often works through us, the Church.

Will you partner Him for His Kingdom's sake? With gentleness and respect, grace and truth, will you carry people to the cross?

Be sure to check out Greg's blog.