Are You In A Back-Slidden Condition?

When I was a young Christian, I used to hear the word "backsliding" a lot. After a while it became almost a cliché. You know what I have noticed!I don't hear it much anymore I wonder why.

The word appears in Proverbs 14:14: "The backslider in heart will have his fill of his own ways, but a good man will be satisfied with his." It appears 9 times in Jeremiah, 3 times in Hosea, and 1 time in Zechariah.These verses give us a crystal-clear picture of the backslider.

A non-Christian cannot backslide, because they have no place to slide back FROM. The backslider is one of the Lord's people who:

Jeremiah 3:6 -- Has started loving and worshiping other gods.
Jeremiah 3:12 -- Is alienated from a positive relationship with the Lord, causing God to become angry.
Jeremiah 3:22 -- Is spiritually sick and needs to be healed.
Jeremiah 8:5 -- Clings to dishonesty, and knowingly will not confess sin or get right with God.
Jeremiah 49:4 -- Puts her trust in material wealth.
Hosea 11:7 -- Still outwardly claims to follow the Lord, but doesn't exalt Him with his actions.
Zechariah 7:11 -- Stubbornly won't listen to God's Word, and stops up his/her ears from hearing correction.

I believe this is what Jesus was talking about in John chapter 15, in His parable about the vine and the branches. The backslider is the branch that stops "abiding" in the Lord Jesus. As a result, the backsliding Christian gets sick, dries up, breaks off, and comes under God's discipline fires.What does this tell us? Just because I had my act together in the past doesn't mean it will stay that way forever. God tests us from time to time with serious moral tests. By the way, how are you doing in your testing? You know what! experiences and relationships put our true selves to the test and the fires of life burn away our phony exteriors. When we face the real us and confess our sins our experience with God becomes more deep and fruitful. I can make wrong choices so can you. What I choose for myself I have to live with. But I have choices. So I have a choice rather I pass the test or not. The good news is that Jesus is married to the backslider. I can be cured in an instant, by repenting and returning to Christ. Are you in a back slidden condition are do you know someone who might be? If so what are you doing about it?