Founder of the Salvation Army, William Booth, once reminded new officers that, just as a fire naturally dies without attention, our spiritual lives require constant stirring and feeding, lest the fire go out.

In physics, the second law of thermodynamics says that the entropy of a system tends to increase over time—things move from order to disorder. Things will tend toward decay unless a energy is added to the system.

There’s also what might be called spiritual entropy: The nature of a Christian to tend toward disorder. If you just leave a Christian alone adding no spiritual energy, things will naturally fall into disarray. That's not to say you aren’t saved. But if you don't actively pursue spiritual growth, your faith will stagnate.

In 2 Peter 1:5-7, we’re told: "Add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love." And 2 Peter 3:18 says, "Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." These verses are about feeding energy into the system to fight spiritual entropy.

The term used for this in the Old Testament is “backsliding;” in the New Testament, it’s called “falling away.” James described it as a Christian who “wanders from the truth” (James 5:19). When someone first comes to Jesus, they’re so excited and on fire. But if, over time, the fire of devotion is never tended, it’s in danger of going out.

Backsliding is almost never a blowout. It’s almost always a slow leak. It's gradual. We end up thinking things, and saying things, and doing things that a person close to God would never do.

You’ll start to backslide if you neglect your Bible. And that will lead to confusion, apathy, emptiness, and indifference. You’ll be lukewarm and vulnerable to temptation.

And you can backslide if you surround yourself with people who don’t encourage you to grow closer to Christ. Paul wrote, "Do not be deceived: ‘Bad company corrupts good morals’” (1 Corinthians 15:33, NASB). When you’re surrounded by wrongdoers, doing wrong will be easy.

“Make no friendship with an angry man, and with a furious man do not go, lest you learn his ways and set a snare for your soul” (Proverbs 22:24-25). Associating with those who practice bad behaviors or hold bad beliefs will erode your moral compass.

You’ll also backslide if your priorities are misarranged. That is, if what seems urgent takes precedence over what is truly important—your relationship to the Lord. “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:33).

And remember: You never backslide from a place. You always backslide from a person. You don't backslide from church. You backslide from God. You don't backslide from the Bible. You backslide from the Author of Scripture. You don't backslide from Christianity. You backslide from Christ himself.

It's always personal. So, get personal. Turn to the person of Christ, not to the institution of the church or of Christianity. Surrender your life to Him. Recommit your heart to Him.

When He becomes the sun, everything else will naturally revolve around that. We don't want to backslide. We want to move forward.

Grow in grace. Abide in Christ. Walk forward in the Spirit.