The Disciples still didn’t get it! While Jesus was preparing Himself for the reality of the cross they were squabbling about their future positions in the kingdom, bragging about how they would never let Him down, and sleeping when He asked them to pray. I wonder how many times they looked back on those moments and believed they had failed God.
How about you? Do you ever feel like you have failed God? Maybe you promised to never again fall into some old sin habit. Instead, you found yourself arguing with your husband, yelling at your kids, missing your quiet time, and giving up in discouragement. If so, you’re not alone.
Today’s Readings:
1 Samuel 10 & 11
Psalm 55.16-23
Proverbs 15.18-20
Luke 22.24-46
When You Feel You’ve Failed God
Luke 22.24-46:
Sinning B.C. & After
Do you ever feel you’ve messed up too badly for God to use you? Maybe it’s your “before Christ” past that haunts you. Or maybe it’s something you did as a Christian. Sometimes it’s easier to accept God’s grace for those B.C. (before Christ) sins than those we commit as believers. But, even as followers of Christ, we do sin.
Here in Luke 22 as the events leading up to the crucifixion unfold, Jesus spends His last hours with His disciples. He had spent three years teaching and preparing them. Yet now, with the reality of the cross looming, they were squabbling over their future positions in the kingdom (v. 24), bragging about how they would never let Him down (v. 33), and falling asleep when He asked them to pray (vv. 45-46).
I wonder how they felt when he corrected their selfish attitudes about who would be the greatest (vv. 25-27). Or how Peter felt when He told him he would deny Him three times (vv. 31-34). Or if they looked back at how they fell asleep when He asked them to pray? Did they believe they had failed God?
When You Know You Have Sinned
How about you when you know you have sinned and believe you have failed God? Maybe you gave in to sinful anger or impatience got the best of you. Maybe you tried to take control of a situation you had already given to God … and it didn’t go well. Or maybe you gave in to fear or worry or gossip. The Apostle Paul had this to say in Romans 7:
19 When I want to do good, I don’t; and when I try not to do wrong, I do it anyway. 20 Now if I am doing what I don’t want to, it is plain where the trouble is: sin still has me in its evil grasp.
21 It seems to be a fact of life that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. 22 I love to do God’s will so far as my new nature is concerned; 23-25 but there is something else deep within me, in my lower nature, that is at war with my mind and wins the fight and makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. In my mind I want to be God’s willing servant, but instead I find myself still enslaved to sin.
So you see how it is: my new life tells me to do right, but the old nature that is still inside me loves to sin. Oh, what a terrible predicament I’m in! Who will free me from my slavery to this deadly lower nature? (NLT)
I can relate. How about you?
Between Romans 6 & Romans 8
I remember one of our pastors teaching on that portion of Romans 7. He reminded us that Paul’s struggle in chapter 7 appears between Romans 6 where Paul said we’re free from slavery to sin and Romans 8 where he begins, “There is now, therefore, no condemnation …” I had never thought about that before.
We may find it hard to understand how a mature Christian like Paul could say what he did in chapter 7, especially in light of its surrounding context. But the truth is only a mature Christian is aware of the tension between our sinful flesh and the desire to be conformed to the image of Christ.
Do We Really Hate Our Sin?
Many times we feel like complete failures and hypocrites, professing to believe one thing while failing over and over. Confessing and failing again.
Our teacher that night went on to quote the Puritan Pastor Thomas Watson who said:
Our hearts must go along with our confessions. The hypocrite confesses sin but loves it, like a thief who confesses to stolen goods, yet loves stealing. How many confess pride and covetousness with their lips but roll them as honey under their tongue.
It’s all too easy to hate the sins of people who hurt us. Or the sins of people we hear about on the news like abortion providers, purveyors of porn, child molesters, and murderers, but do we hate our own sin?
A sanctified person hates his own sin and is humbled by God’s grace. He or she agrees with Paul when he said, “Oh, what a terrible predicament I’m in!” or as the New King James Version says, “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?”
The good news is God’s work in us doesn’t stop there.
The Good News
Let’s look again at Luke 22. In the midst of Peter’s bravado, Jesus said this:
31 Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to have you, to sift you like wheat, 32 but I have pleaded in prayer for you that your faith should not completely fail. So when you have repented and turned to me again, strengthen and build up the faith of your brothers (Lk. 22.31-32 NLT).
And later, even after Peter had denied Him those three times, Jesus restored him and used him mightily in the years to come.
Paul exclaims the same good news to us at the end of Romans 7:
Thank God! It has been done by Jesus Christ our Lord. He has set me free (Rom. 7.25 NLT).
This is why Paul could say in Romans 8:
1 So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. 2 And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. 3 The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. 4 He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit (NLT).
So, if you feel like you have failed Christ? Run to Him not away from Him. Pray and ask for His forgiveness. Remember that He is praying for you. Then receive His forgiveness and help to change. And remember, as Bible teacher, Elyse Fitzpatrick says, “It is for this reason Christ died!”
Today’s Other Readings:
1 Samuel 10 & 11:
By the Way … Bless Me!
In 1 Samuel 8, realizing Samuel wouldn’t be there to lead them forever and instead of trusting God, the nation of Israel demanded a human king. While God allowed it, it doesn’t mean it was God’s best for them.
I believe there are times when God allows political events, even ones that appear negative, to bring about His holy, just, and righteous purposes. Often, if not always, those purposes include revealing the hearts of the people involved. The Israelites wanted to be like all the other nations. They didn’t want God to be their King. Instead, they wanted Him to bless their choice to live like everyone else.
How like us they were! Too often, instead of seeking God’s will in a given situation through prayer and wise counsel, we make our own choices. Then, almost as an afterthought, we ask Him to bless our decision. I wonder how different things would be if we got on His agenda, instead of always expecting Him to come bless ours!
Psalm 55.16-23:
Cast Your Burden on Him
Verse 22 says:
Cast your burden on the Lord, and He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.
What a magnificent promise!
How often do we struggle under the weight of our own burdens because we fail to cast them on the Lord?
Jesus said:
Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light (Matt. 11.28-30).
1 Corinthians 10.13 assures us that God will never allow a situation in our lives that is too much for us to bear. The weight or burden that He does allow has been uniquely designed to strengthen and grow each of us, not cause us to sink or give in to a sinful or worldly response. So cast whatever it is on Him in prayer and trust Him to bring about the result that is needed.
Proverbs 15.18-20:
Do You Act or React?
A wrathful man stirs up strife, but he who is slow to anger allays contention (v. 18).
James, in his epistle, said:
So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God (Jas. 1.19-20).
In counseling, we often talk about the “Four Rules of Communication.” Rule #4 is “Act; don’t react” from Ephesians 4.31-32. Instead of reacting in anger, we should act purposefully by being slow to anger, seeking the Lord, and responding in kindness, compassion, and forgiveness.
Coming Up:
In the coming days, we’ll talk about what to do when you feel like you fight the same spiritual battle over and over, how to tell the difference between godly sorrow and worldly sorrow, one cause of paranoia, how to respond to instruction, what to do to be used by God, and the homework God gives.
I hope you’ll sign up so you don’t miss any of them.
If you would like to receive a FREE downloadable and printable Bible study through the book of Mark, you can click here for more information.
Blessings as you grow in Christ,
Donna ♥
Note about this post:
I began blogging through the Bible in 2012 and have done so every year since then. These posts are the product of many edits and additions throughout those years. Some days I make major changes, other days fewer.
A while ago, I read Jen Wilkin’s book None Like Him about the attributes of God. One is His incomprehensibility. In it, she says, “God is incomprehensible. This does not mean that he is unknowable, but that he is unable to be fully known.”
I have found that to be true each year as I’ve gone back through the Bible. Sometimes I find myself feeling as if a passage just appeared there for the first time. I’m reminded that no matter how many times we read through the Bible, we have only scratched the surface. I hope you feel the same.
Indeed these are the mere edges of His ways,
And how small a whisper we hear of Him!
But the thunder of His power who can understand?” (Job 26.14)
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