The Christian life is not always an easy road. Sometimes we get off track. The Bible says to encourage your brothers and sisters in Christ daily so that no one turns away from the living God (Hebrews 3:13). Here are fifteen ways to avoid turning from God (backsliding):
- Examine your faith-life regularly: “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!” (2 Corinthians 13:5)
- If you find yourself drifting away, turn back immediately: “Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. 13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” (Hebrews 3:12-13)
- Come to God daily for forgiveness and cleansing: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)
- Continue daily seeking the Lord with your whole heart: “And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve him with a whole heart and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will cast you off forever.” (1 Chronicles 28:9)
- Stay in the Word of God; keep studying and learning daily: “Keep hold of instruction; do not let go; guard her, for she is your life.” (Proverbs 4:13)
- Stay in fellowship often with other believers as you can’t make it alone as a Christian. We need the strength and prayers of other believers: “not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” (Hebrews 10:25)
- Stand firm in your faith and expect difficult times in your Christian life: “and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” (Matthew 10:22)
- Persevere: “Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress. 16 Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.” (1 Timothy 4:15-17)
- Run the race to win: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness….” (2 Timothy 4:7-8a)
- Remember what God has done for you in the past: “Remember those earlier days after you had received the light when you stood your ground in a great contest in the face of suffering. So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised … we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed but of those who believe and are saved.” (Hebrews 10:32, 35-39)
- Develop a daily habit of spending time with God. Habits are hard to break: “But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all your works.” (Psalm 73:28)
- Memorize favorite Bible verses to recall in difficult times “I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.” (Psalm 119:11)
- Listen to Christian music to keep your mind and heart in tune with God: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” (Colossians 3:16)
- Develop a Christian friendship so that you’ll have someone to call when you feel weak: “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.” (Proverbs 17:17)
- Get involved in a meaningful missions project with other Christians: “How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!’” (Romans 10:14-15)