Maybe you’ve heard the old line, “The world has become so churchy and the church has become so worldly that you can’t tell the difference between the two.” Well, unfortunately, that line rings far too close to the truth. Backslidden Christians really do create a major hindrance to what God wants to accomplish in the world. Even more than that, they do untold harm to their own lives.

One of the best descriptions I’ve ever read concerning the worldly, carnal, backslidden Christian comes from Charles Spurgeon in the October 14 evening devotion from his book Morning & Evening. Here are a few excerpts from that devotion:

Do you wish to leave this world in the darkness of a bed of affliction and enter heaven as a shipwrecked mariner climbs the rocks of his native country? Then be worldly; be mixed up with the kingdom of darkness…”

Does your soul long to obtain the full assurance of faith? You cannot gain it while you commune with sinners.

It is dangerous for an heir of heaven to be a great friend with the heirs of hell. Even small inconsistencies are dangerous. Little thorns make great blisters, little moths destroy fine garments, and a little frivolity and mischief will rob faith of a thousand joys. O believer, you do not realize what you lose by your conformity to the world. It cuts the tendons of your strength and makes you crawl where you ought to run.

I especially like the way Spurgeon compared the backslidden Christian’s entrance into heaven to a shipwrecked sailor having to climb up the steep rocks of his homeland just to get home. Spurgeon’s point was that, for the backslidden Christian, there is no peaceful sail into the safe harbor of heaven. There is no confident expectation of praise for a job well done. There is no triumphant entrance. Instead, there is only the exhausted, worn out, frazzled Christian scratching and clawing his way to a place of safety.

My guess is that Spurgeon had 1 Timothy 1:18-20 in mind when he used that illustration. In those verses, the apostle Paul explains to the young preacher Timothy that some Christians have rejected faith and a good conscience and “concerning the faith have suffered shipwreck.” Paul then gives the specific names (Hymenaeus and Alexander) of two such Christians and says that he delivered them to Satan so they would learn not to blaspheme. According to 1 Corinthians 5:1-7, the term “delivered them to Satan” means what we call “church discipline” (excommunication, “churching” someone). This should show us just how serious backsliding is.

I once heard a preacher say, “Some Christians don’t do enough for the Lord to attract a used demon!” Tell me, Christian, does that describe you? Are you, as not only Spurgeon but also Paul described, living a shipwrecked walk with Christ? If you are, my prayer is that you will do the necessary confessing and repenting today. Remember that 1 John 1:9 is still in the Bible and it still works:

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (N.K.J.V.)