Backsliding and the Pleasures of the World
ONE of the signs of backsliding is seeking after the pleasures of the world, which once would have been distasteful. Human beings naturally demand pleasure, and will have it. This the gospel recognizes, and proposes to supply it. The “joys of salvation” are offered in exchange for the “pleasures of sin.” These joys are “unspeakable and full of glory” while we live for them; that is, while we are fully consecrated to God he fills us with his own fullness. But if we lose faith, or are “offended because of the word,” or tire of the cross, we lose the blessing. Then it is that we begin to seek something else to satisfy the craving want; and then it is that the “pleasures of the world” begin to tempt us; and in a little while we find ourselves doing what we once denounced, and what we know is displeasing to God, discouraging to his children, and which must bring reproach upon his cause. Brethren and sisters, let us watch our steps and make straight paths for our feet, lest we wander out of the way of life into that which ends in destruction.—Herald of Life.