The Backslider and the Wicked

There are two kinds of people in this world, and you are one of them.  There are those who backslide away from God, and those who don’t.  Who do you suppose is worse off?  It may surprise you to hear—it's not the backslider.  How so?  Simply put, everyone who knows God is also a backslider.  The one who has never backslid from God is worse off because they’ve never known God.  There is nothing for them to backslide away from.  God calls them wicked.  On the other hand, there is no person on Earth who has known God, who has completely refrained from backsliding at one time.  Just in case you are doubting, I think it should be understood that every single sin is a backslide.  Unless of course, sin is obedience?  I think not.  And, don't we all sin?

I propose that there are two different kinds of people in this world—the at times disobedient backslider, and the always disobedient wicked—which one are you?

Isaiah 57:17-19 (the backslider)
 

¹⁷ For the iniquity of his covetousness
I was angry and struck him;
I hid and was angry,
And he went on backsliding in the way of his heart.
¹⁸ I have seen his ways, and will heal him;
I will also lead him,
And restore comforts to him
And to his mourners.

¹⁹ “I create the fruit of the lips:
Peace, peace to him who is far off and to him who is near,”
Says the Lord,
“And I will heal him.”

Isaiah 57:20-21 (the wicked)

²⁰ But the wicked are like the troubled sea,
When it cannot rest,
Whose waters cast up mire and dirt.

²¹ “There is no peace,”
Says my God, “for the wicked.”

This is not to justify backsliding as anything but sin.  In fact, to sin is to backslide—to backslide is to sin.  However, another irony, I think, is that the backslider is the one humble in heart.  He has backslid, but not forever.  God will restore him.  The backslider *knows* he has sinned; he knows he is a sinner and COMES BACK to God through repentance.

The backslider or the wicked: which one are you?  Nothing I can say will change it, but your actions hereto will reveal it.

Luke 18:10-14

“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’ And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Revelation 3:19

As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.