Our life is an open book….

“Haven’t you brought this on yourself
by abandoning the LORD your God,
who has directed your paths?

Your wrongdoing will punish you.
Your acts of unfaithfulness
will find you out.
Don’t you understand how terribly bitter
it is to abandon the LORD your God
and not fear me?
declares the LORD of heavenly forces”.   Jer. 2:17,19 CEB

No fear of God will cause a person to backslide.

Backsliding often carries its own punishment and its effects often extend far beyond the experience of the offender alone.   (Prov.14:14, Jer. 2:17,19, Rom. 13:4)

Causing a person to stumble is a serious offense.  We will be held accountable not only for our own relationship with God, but for our conduct before others as well.

Our life is “an open book,” Paul writes, “known and read of all men” (II Cor. 3:12). People who do not hear what we say cannot help but observe the way we live.   “Your actions speak so loudly,” the saying goes, “that I cannot hear a word you are saying.” 

Therefore, we are to “love not in word, but in deed….” (I Jn 3:18).  Anyone who has experienced the Presence of God will never find lasting satisfaction outside of His will.    This accounts for the inner frustration and bitterness of soul accompanying the abandonment of one’s soul to the world without God.

“I will heal their backsliding; I will love them freely….”  Hosea 14:4-7

The road back to God is never long.  As the father of the prodigal “ran to meet him,” God always meets us at least half-way.   Deciding to return, however, has often proven most difficult. 

Depending on the degree of our fallen state, God often must use extreme measures to bring us back.   He strives with the backslidden (II Kings 17:15), and lovingly will use anything; sickness, misery, or grief to get us to return.  (Ps107)

Scripture likens the backslidden condition to a disease (Isa.1:5-6), for which God has a cure (Jer. 3:22).   As with most natural diseases, certain symptoms are typical of the condition: a spiritual lethargy, a calloused attitude toward sin, worldliness, a spiritual love grown cold, lack of payer or decreased hunger for the Word, a general feeling of apathy toward lost souls.

A dominant characteristic of the backslidden condition is stubbornness (II Kings 17:14,40).  Falling away is essentially a heart condition.  Though its manifestations may be primarily external, the root of the problem lies much deeper.

For the unbeliever, the fear of God is the fear of judgment of God and eternal death, which is eternal separation from God (Lk 12:5, Heb. 10:31).

Some define the fear of God for believers to “respecting” Him.  While respect is definitely included in the concept of fearing God, there is more to it than that.   A biblical fear of God, for the believer, includes understanding how much God hates sin and fearing His judgment on sin---even in the life of a believer.

Hebrews 12:5-11 describes God’s discipline of the believer.  While it is done in love, it is still a fearful thing.

“….. have you forgotten the encouraging words God spoke to you as his children? He said, “My child,don’t make light of the Lord’s discipline,
and don’t give up when he corrects you.
 For the Lord disciplines those he loves,
and he punishes each one he accepts as his child.”  Heb. 12:5-6 NLT