What If I've Failed?

Do our failures remove us from the powerful works of God? That is the question that was asked of us at the sermon on Sunday morning. We looked at the example of Simon Peter, for he failed Jesus as well. He tells Jesus personally that he will be the one who does not fall away from His side. However, he was prideful. He had complete confidence in his own acts. And then he betrayed Jesus: colossal failure. At the same time, we commit failures and sin every single day of our lives. Every sin we commit is an act of betrayal to God. What must happen for us to be assured of His love? The first thing is repentance. We must be so broken by our own sin that we go running into the arms of Christ. We can't just feel sorry for ourselves or what we did; we must feel the complete weight of sin on our shoulders! Our instinct is to blame others; everyone but ourselves is to blame. We minimize our failures, which will not enable us to move beyond them. Another instinct of ours is to run from Jesus when we recognize we have done wrong. We feel guilty and shut Him out, but God never ever turns His face away from us! All He wants is for us to go to Him in love! How extraordinary is my Savior that He would do such a thing. I can't help but smile when I think that my sins will never decrease God's love for me! God's opinion of us as people has never been based on anything we have done. My standards are not and will never be higher than God's. We always pretend we're too prideful to accept what Jesus did on the cross. But my God is bigger and stronger than all of that nonsense. God doesn't save imaginary sinners. Therefore, let me be boldly state that I am broken and in need of Jesus. My complete dependence on Him for life is strong, since nothing can separate me from the love of Christ! My God is a big Savior for big sinners, not the other way around. My failures prepare me to spread the Gospel. Every time we do wrong God just opens His arms and gives us the opportunity to admit our need. He releases us into ministry despite our blunders. So great is the need and desire for me to plunge deeply into God's sweet grace. :)