Matthew 13:15  

“For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest… I should heal them.”

The backsliding man is the man who had touched the light, heard and believed the Word but had then retreated away from the Lord for some reasons. Here are the three things that show when a person has started backsliding. The first is that his heart becomes dull about spiritual things. His heart loses the zeal for and passion for the things of God. A dull heart is a cold heart, a heart that lacks the desire to draw nearer to Christ. Secondly, the person begins to struggle with listening and accepting the Word of God. Clear instructions become debatable, and his ears are no longer able to hear or receive God’s voice. The final step is that he no longer sees the difference between right and wrong. At this point, the believer has wholly backslidden, and he does not consider sin as evil. Spiritual blindness has set in at this point, and the man is not any different from the average unbeliever who never followed Christ.

Backsliding is a process. We must stop the slide away from Christ particularly when we sense our hearts are becoming dull with the things of God. Whenever the things of the spirit are considered boring, and the things of the world seem exciting, that’s the time to cry out for a renewal of the inward flames, before it’s too late.

“Jesus, deliver me from sliding away from You. Jesus, make my heart always hot towards the things of God and quickly alert me when dullness is beginning to creep in. This I ask in Your name. Amen.”