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Topic: Failure (03/01/04)
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TITLE: Failure,not in God's eyes! By shirley shields 03/07/04 |
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www.sueshields.com
The Bible tells us that we have all sinned and fallen short of glory; we are fallible human beings period. But God sees us for what we can become thank goodness, not as we are at any moment of time. The old saying of “He’s not finished with me yet still holds true, and while I’m not what I use to be, I’m not what I would desire to be before I leave this earth either. We must continue to strive to meet the mark of our high calling in every area of our life. The Lord desires to be our partner in every area of life; He knows each of our weaknesses already.
God is much more merciful and patient with His children’s growth, than we are at times with our own children or fellow travelers. In the Bible we have many examples, which reveal to us that God looks on man’s heart, and continually stretches us to become more like His Son in our own actions and thoughts. Just as our children must learn to crawl before they walk or run, so do we as His children.
Learning to love and forgive others for their trespasses against us; as Jesus set forth the example for us, is the most difficult of challenges we face. But it is the one that sets us apart from the rest of the world; “ye will know they are my disciples by their love. (John 13:34-35)
The Lord saw Peter as a rock, but it is obvious that he wasn’t that rock at the time of his calling by the Lord. Peter often got the cart before the horse as the saying goes, but the Lord saw Peter’s heart desire to follow; as He does each of ours today.
Let’s examine a few of Peter shortcomings when he was first called. The apostle was often quick to react to events of the moment; take his jumping into the water, and then sinking after only a few steps, he took his eyes off the Lord and fear entered as he noticed the stormy waters around him. Then we see Peter who was eager to defend the Lord and he cut off the ear of the soldier who came to get Him in the garden. Again we see a fearful Peter, when he denied knowing the Lord three times before the cock crowed.
In Peter’s defense, I must add he was the only one who jumped first at an opportunity to serve the Lord generally. The point is; Peter wasn’t perfected when called, but he continued following and became the rock the Lord saw him to be later in his life. God understands when our spirit is willing but the flesh is weak, He alone can see our heart’s desire. I think many can relate to Peter in their walk with the Lord, I know I can.
There are many examples; like King David, and his adultery and murder, or even Abraham and Sarah who got ahead of the Lord in their desire to help the Lord with the promised seed line. These examples are found through out the Bible for us to learn from them. Often much heartache is created by our failing to follow the Lord directions; and often this is traced back to our ignorance of God’s word.
God doesn’t always deliver us from the consequences we’ve created, but He will always walk through them with us. All of our forefathers faltered and failed in some areas in their lifetime, so we can be certain that we will fail at times, but our failures hopefully will produce spiritual growth in us.
Over the years I have had many occasions where I could relate with some of these forefathers of ours who is set forth as examples, whose actions or failings were similar to what I was facing at the time. I learned that the Lord is more than willing to walk through them with us if we ask, and at times He has even carried me most of the way Himself. Like the poem Footprints in the Sand states.
He patiently waits for us to develop into all that He knows we can be, He can see inside our heart, where others may only see the outside failings and shortcomings of the flesh. Just remember all have sinned and fallen short, so just get up one more time and continue following, and you will never be a failure in God’s eyes.
Amen!