The Point of No Return

Your evil will chastise you, and your apostasy will reprove you. Know and see that it is evil and bitter for you to forsake the LORD your God; the fear of me is not in you, declares the Lord GOD of hosts. Jeremiah 2:19

D.L. MOODY
I have travelled a good deal, but I never found a happy backslider in my life. I never knew a man who was really born of God that ever could find the world satisfy him afterward. Do you think the prodigal son was satisfied in that foreign country? Ask the prodigals today if they are truly happy. You know they are not. “There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked” (Isaiah 57:21).

ERWIN LUTZER
There’s only one way to avoid the point of no return at Niagara Falls: watch for the currents’ warning signs. Just so, we must watch for the warning signs of being swept away by the currents of temptation. We must also be aware of the warning signs of spiritual decline.
First, pay attention for the feeling of self-satisfaction, the feeling you have everything under control. Beware of harboring sin that masters you and causes spiritual blindness. Second, watch for any hidden provisions for defeat; don’t put yourself in a place where temptation lurks. The third danger is spiritual coasting. We begin to push God and His Word to the circumference of our lives, and soon, compromises lead us to ultimate disaster. Moody was right in saying that no backslider is a happy person.
I’ve been on a boat that left the shore so quietly that I scarcely noticed it. That’s the way most backsliding happens. Only tragic failure makes us realize how far we have drifted from the shore. Pay careful attention to the warning signs.

PRAYER
Holy Spirit, grant me a sensitivity to sin so that I may grow in fear and reverence of you.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS
Into which of these warning signs are you most likely to drift?

What area of spiritual compromise or coasting can you take action on today?