The process of straying and becoming a backslider is a fascinating one, and it’s a path that’s well-trodden. Dr. Tony Evans gives us a roadmap of this journey from the Book of Hebrews*.
- First off, we have spiritual neglect. Hebrews 2:2-3 warns us, ‘For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable and every transgression and disobedience received is just recompense, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?’ Now, you’re not doing anything real bad, it’s just that you’re not doing anything real good either. You’re just taking this great salvation for granted.
- Next up, there’s spiritual insensitivity. Hebrews 3:12-13 tells us, ‘Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.’ Sin isn’t as sinful as it used to be. You’ve become hardened by sin’s ability to dupe you.
- Then, we have a refusal to grow. Hebrews 5:11-12 says, ‘About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food.’ Dr. Evan explained ‘dull’ as you’re mule-headed, stubborn. You’ve made no progress because you’ve flat-out refused to grow over time.
- Then there’s a stage of abandoning faith. Hebrews 6:4-6 warns, ‘For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.’ You’ve turned your back on faith.
- Next, you start drifting from the fellowship of the saints. Hebrews 10:23-25 tells us, ‘Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some.’ Some folks have stopped going to church. They don’t want to be in that accountable environment anymore.
- This leads to willful sinning. Hebrews 10:26-27 warns, ‘For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.’ This is a willful ‘I don’t care’ attitude.
- Then, there’s a stage of allowing bitterness to take root. Hebrews 12:15 warns, ‘See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no ‘root of bitterness’ springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled.’ You let bitterness grow and it starts causing all sorts of trouble. This is where you might start seeing the church as hypocritical and holding resentment toward others.
- Finally, there’s ignoring divine warnings. Hebrews 12:25 warns, ‘See that you do not refuse Him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject Him who warns from heaven.’ You’re turning a deaf ear to God’s warnings. At this point, the strayer is hardened, showing themselves as they are, openly and unashamedly.
This is the journey of the backslider, the one who’s straying from the truth. It’s a sobering journey, and it mirrors the stages outlined by John Bunyan in Pilgrim’s Progress, from neglecting the gospel and isolating oneself from Christian fellowship, to enjoying sinful pleasures and preparing for everlasting torment. It’s a journey that we must be vigilant to avoid, and it starts with paying careful attention to our spiritual health and maintaining our connection with God and the Christian community.
*Technically, Dr. Evans left out Hebrews 6 and 12, but the ideas are elsewhere in his larger body of work.