Backsliding

As I listen to Christian radio and surf the Internet, there is a subject that I rarely hear mentioned: backsliding. Backsliding from the faith appears to be a real problem in the church, especially in America. Hearts are cold and indifferent; there is more concern for the things of the world than the things of God. Listen to the conversation both before and after a church service and you will soon understand my point. Where has the fire gone? The answer is that the fire has left because backsliding has emerged. We must watch and pray as Jesus instructed because backsliding can occur to any child of God.

Robert Robinson had been saved out of a tempestuous life of sin through George Whitefield's ministry in England. Shortly after that, at the age of twenty-three, Robinson wrote the hymn "Come, Thou Fount." Sadly, Robinson wandered far and, like the Prodigal Son, journeyed into the distant country of carnality. Until one day he was traveling by stagecoach and sitting beside a young woman engrossed in her book. She ran across a verse she thought was beautiful and asked him what he thought of it. "Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love." Bursting into tears, Robinson said, "Madam, I am the poor unhappy man who wrote that hymn many years ago, and I would give a thousand worlds, if I had them, to enjoy the feelings I had then." -- Kenneth W. Osbeck