Proverbs 14:14: The backslider in heart will be filled with his own ways, but a good man will be satisfied from above.
Insight
A backslider is one who has given up ground once taken for God. Many a soul gives up in heart long before it is manifested in the life. The conscience becomes defiled; and if self-judgment does not follow, the truth begins to lose its power over the heart. The sad result of a broken-down testimony soon follows, till he is filled with his own ways. The backslider is one who fails in practically carrying out the truth. The apostate, on the other hand, gives up the truth entirely, even denying the Lord that bought him; thus proving his unreality, whatever his previous profession may have been. Needless to say, no true believer ever becomes an apostate. The good man—that is, the man who is real for God—shall be filled from what is in himself. The testimony of the Lord controls the reins of his being. His life will be in accord therewith. 1
Application
In James 1:14–16, the road to backsliding is explained: “But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. When desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.” Solution: avoid deception by thinking biblically, not worldly.
Motivation
But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life. John 4:14
To backslide, is to go backward with God, and to go forward with the devil. – TWEET IT
Prayer
Father, please keep me from foolishly thinking that I can live independently of You.
1. Ironside, H. A. (1908). Notes on the Book of Proverbs (pp. 164–166). Neptune, NJ: Loizeaux Bros.
