As most of you who know me know, I am an avid football
fan. In fact, I guess you could say I am now experiencing football withdrawal. Being
a fan creates innumerable highs and lows. The high point was THE Ohio State
University’s undisputed national championship win on Jan. 12. The low point?
Yesterday’s unfathomable Seattle Seahawks loss, and to none other than Tom
Brady’s Patriots, the perennial nemesis of both Charlie’s Colts and my Bengals.
But, life goes on, and the football diversion goes on
the back burner until next year.
In the meantime, my focus to reach the unreached in
Jesus Christ’s name continues as we expand this daily blog. Last week my
husband and I discussed the future of my blog-based ministry. His insight proved invaluable.
As a result of much prayerful consideration, Charlie
has decided to join this ministry. As such, you can expect to soon see blog
posts from a man’s point of view, with Charlie sharing his male perspective of
life as a follower of Jesus.
Back to the topic at hand…failure seems to rear its
ugly head when you least expect it. But, just like sin invades our lives from
time to time, so does failure.
As the followers of this blog probably noticed,
personal blog posts were missing last week. Although links to the devotional I
read every day were provided to you, I know it was not the same as a daily dose
of personal reflection from one sinner to another. Missing even one day of sharing
His Word, is, in my opinion, a monumental failure.
When I started blogging on Jan. 1, I made a commitment to not fail, and there I was, less than one month into this ministry, experiencing a colossal failure. Woe is me.
Then I thought about failure and sin and what the Good
Book says how failure and sin, at least in my mind, may be related.
Romans 3:22-24 (NIV) says 22 This
righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no
difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all
have sinned and fall short of (failed in our pursuit of) the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through
the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. [emphasis and parenthetical meaning mine]
The apostle Paul writes that we are saved by grace if
we believe in Jesus. But, even though we employ our best efforts not to, we
continue to sin. Remember Jesus says that if we sin in our heart…
In fact, in the Sermon on the Mount, Christ cautions
against all types of heart-/mind-based sin. Matthew 5 gives the details. Read
His instruction on the subject in your Bible or by clicking here.
My take is that I failed Christ in my absence from
this blog for the last week. Even though I was ill, I should have at least made
the effort to share His Word. I failed as a true follower. I failed. But that
does not mean I cannot seek His forgiveness and begin again, does it?
My granddaddy always said, “Cheryl Ann, don’t you know
confession is good for the soul?”
As always, granddaddy was right. As the disciple John put
it so well in 1 John 1:9 (NIV) If
we confess our sins, he is
faithful and just and will forgive
us our sins and purify us from
all unrighteousness.
According to
my study Bible, John wrote this letter to the churches in Ephesus to encourage
their journey in the faith. The Bible remains a timeless vessel of unfathomable
knowledge as witnessed in this passage which holds true today just as it did
more than 2,000 years ago.
Amazing!
In today’s vernacular,
God gives us “an out,” a way back to him. A way to process, and confess our
failures/sins, a way to return to Him as a true follower.
Dennis
Dehaan put it so well when he wrote, “Learning to benefit from failure is the
key to continued growth in grace.”
Pray,
confess your sin, ask for forgiveness, and work to do it better the next time. Grow
in grace. After all, “…with God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26(b)
(NIV).
May God
bless each and every one of you every day in every way. Amen.
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