Posts Tagged ‘failure’

Compassion

Tuesday, August 18th, 2009

How many times do we find ourselves in a situation, and think, “I deserve this. I brought it on myself,” and find ourselves ashamed to ask for help and strength from God?

I know I have felt this way.  Because of failure, sin, or downright ignorance I get myself into a tight spot, and feel like I should not receive help from God because I knew better, or at least should have.

It is easier to accept that God is merciful and will forgive us, but it is sometimes hard to believe that He wants to aid us after our own mistakes.

That is when we need to realize and remember the compassion of God.  Psalm 145:8 (NKJV) states, “The LORD is gracious and full of compassion,     Slow to anger and great in mercy.”  Also we find in Lamentations 3:22 (NKJV), “Through the LORD’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not.”

Just like God’s mercy, His compassion is greater than our sin, greater than our errors, greater than our flaws.  In the story of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32) the father not only receives his wayward son, and forgives him, but also begins to take care of every need.  Even though this son had failed miserably, his father not only forgave him, looking at his repentant son through eyes of mercy, he began to provide for his son’s needs, looking at him through eyes of compassion.  The wrongs had been forgiven.  The only thing the father saw now was the need.

There is a very old song which comes to my mind, entitled “He Looked Bey0nd My Fault and Saw My Need.”  This is the compassion of God.  He forgives the fault, then deals with the need.

If you believe in God’s mercy, and have faith in His ability, then trust in His compassion in your time of need, even if it was caused by your own doing.  He has not changed, and wants to meet you at that point of need.

Be blessed and have a great day.

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Love

Wednesday, July 1st, 2009

I’m not always pleased with the way I act.

My own behavior sometimes upsets me (after the fact) and I am not always so pleased with myself.

Often I have wondered how God could “put up with me.”  Over the course of time I have been inconsistent, rebellious, and angry at times.  I have been impatient, selfish, and prideful as well. (See Romans 8:8 to see where I am coming from on this. But don’t stop here, please!)

Sometimes when discussing my shortcomings and some of the behaviors and events produced by them, people have said these things were “not really so bad.”  To me it did not feel that way.  I was disappointed with myself, frustrated with myself, and was really torn inside at my failures.

It is very difficult to feel approval and validation when one doesn’t even approve of one’s self.

However, we can also understand that there is an infinite and unconditional love that comes from God.  It is why He is merciful and patient with us when we fail.   When my heart is broken over my failures, it is because I feel like I have betrayed that great love.  And it is that great love that does not let go of me, and leads me straight to Him.

Romans 5:8 tells us that this great love is demonstrated by the fact that Christ died for us while we were still sinners.  God’s love is of a type that makes the first move. In the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-31) the image of the father who runs to meet his returning son (verse 20) show us that the love of God is a love that runs toward us when we turn toward Him.

Wrong behavior, wrong attitudes, and wrong thinking can all be fixed.  Our nature can be changed by the loving hand of God.  I am in no way excusing or endorsing bad behavior. (See Romans 6:1-2)  I am saying that there is love, grace, and mercy available to us, for forgiveness and to change our lives. (Roman 5:20-21, Romans 9:14-16, 1John 2:1-2, and concerning transformation Romans 12:2, which is accomplished by His grace, 2Corinthians 9:8 - which promises grace to do all things.)

I am quite thankful for the promises and love of God, not only when I fail, but every day of my life.

Be blessed, and have a great day.

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We Do What We Do. But Why?

Wednesday, June 17th, 2009

What is it that motivates our behavior?

A clue to one of the prime motivators is found in Matthew 22:36-40.  When the Pharisees and Sadducees  asked Jesus what the greatest commandment was, He answered, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.”  He then added that the secondary was “love thy neighbor as thyself.”

When we do the right thing, either in what is pleasing to God or for the sake of another person, we are to do so out of love.  Not for any self-serving motive, just the motive of love.  The love we have for God makes us want to do what is pleasing to Him, and abstain from what is not pleasing to Him.

Love for others causes us to be more concerned for their welfare than our own.  It will cause us to behave properly toward others out of an overflowing heart.

We do not need to exhibit proper behavior because it is a “rule” that makes us “bad” if we misbehave.  We don’t do it to score “points” with God, or to seek reward.  When we love God and love others, that is all the motivation that we really need.

So, then, what about the other side of the coin?  What about when we fail?  Does that mean we really don’t love God, or really don’t love others?

In my opinion the problem is not that we don’t love God, it is that we love ourselves more than we love God.  In that sense, we are not loving God with our whole heart, we are keeping a little bit back to ourselves.  Then we seek to please ourselves above pleasing God.  Likewise, when we are more concerned for ourselves than the needs and lives of others, we are exhibiting a self-love that exceeds our love for others.

Following God means that sometimes we are going to face situations that require us to deny ourselves.  In the broader sense, we are to do this from day one in our relationship with God, but the problems spring up when we get down to the specific moments when we have to “put up or shut up.”  That is when our love is tested.

When we fail, it is not necessarily the end of the world.  What it is though is a sign that we need more of God and less of ourselves.  More of His love in our hearts, both for Him and other people.  By His grace, we can truly be successful in these things.

Have a blessed day!

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The Great Compromise

Wednesday, May 20th, 2009

First off, I want to say that this is not a finger-pointing rant.  It is just one of my run of the mill rants.  But without getting into specifics, I want to say a few things about the compromise of morals and conscience.

In 1 Thessalonians 5:22, we are instructed to abstain from all appearance of evil.  And I fear that I have not always stayed to the most conservative application of that verse.  There have been times in my past when I have “played fast and loose” with this concept, and compromised my beliefs and morals.  My behavior was not stellar in these moments, to say the least.

It is true that past bad behavior, even that which is confessed and renounced, or even things we do that we look at as “not so bad”, can come back on us later, affecting not only our lives but the things which we do for God.

It should not deter one from standing for God, but we need to be aware that past decisions may affect the present, and we must be prepared for that.  However, we also should examine the current decisions we make, even the day to day ones that seem unimportant.

If in our daily lives we compromise our conscience or our morals, or the things we believe, how then can we claim any moral authority?  If these things happen openly, how can we speak the truth without being accused of hypocrisy?

We can see an example of this with the current Miss California, Carrie Prejean, who was not only attacked for her statements on gay marriage (which were actually not worded in a highly offensive manner, in my personal opinion), but for modeling pictures that were revealing, that up until this controversy had not been publicly released.

Decisions concerning these photographs that seemed to be alright at the time they were taken caused her much humiliation after the Miss USA pageant and subsequent controversy surrounding her views.  There was now a “smoking gun” with which to accuse her, evidence that she was not “perfect”.  Honestly, did anyone think she was?

In her defense, she was a young model, looking to move her career along.  And all of us can probably say that we made some bad decisions between the ages of eighteen and twenty-one,  but that does not undo what has happened.  She has to live and deal with what is out there, that cannot be undone.

It is no different for any of us.  We have to deal with our own past, the skeletons in our closets, and maintain a standard of behavior that does not compromise our morals and our core beliefs in the present.

If we take shortcuts to make it easy, it will only be more difficult in the end.  And the little things cannot be taken lightly either.  Think about it: those little things are called “details”.

And details do matter. Morals do matter. Conscience does matter.

Just a few thoughts on something that has been on a lot of folk’s minds lately.

Have a blessed day!

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Unwitting Accomplices

Thursday, April 9th, 2009

Have you ever felt robbed?

When you look at your life, do you feel at times like you got shortchanged? Bamboozled? Cheated?

Sometimes we are not happy with the way certain situations work out, or the way certain things seem to go in our lives.  Sometimes, it’s just life.  But then there are other times.

Times when we believe that somewhere it went wrong. The path of our life went haywire. And we wonder how and why.

Although the answer I am about to propose is not always the case, it applies to many of the things in my own life as I look back, and I believe that most folks will find it is true for many of their own lives as well.

John 10:10 records Jesus saying that the thief comes only to kill, steal, and destroy.  But how many times do we act as unwitting accomplices?

Often times bad decisions, our own desires, or just plain old rebelliousness and sin cause us to play right into the snares of the enemy.  We make our judgments about our life by how we feel, not by prayer, obedience, waiting on God or even so much as seeking wise counsel.  And sometimes the consequences of these actions cause things to happen in our lives that bring unsatisfactory results and situations.

We have played a role in a crime against ourselves.  Not our intentions, but it happened and now we have to deal with it.

So, when we find ourselves in these situations, what do we do?  Forgive me, but the term “learning experience” and “growth” are generally just euphemisms for “Boy, I blew it and I know it, but do not have a clue as to how to deal with it.”

There is a theme throughout the New Testament. I will give a couple of verses to get the idea across.  2 Corinthians 5:17 tells us that if anyone is in Christ he is a new creature. The old is gone, the new is here. (Not a direct quote, trying to be brief.) In Revelation 21:5, John heard the voice of God say “Behold, I make all things new.”

Basically what we can infer from that is this: whatever we have lost, whatever has been stolen from us, whatever went wrong, God can do better than fix it.  He has the ability to make all things new.  And if we let Him, He will.  But He will have to start with us.

It would do no good to make everything else new if we went right back to being an unwitting accomplice.  We need God to renew us first, our hearts, our minds, our spirits, then work on the externals.

Otherwise, we would be like a shiny new car with an engine that would not run, wheels that would not turn, and a missing transmission.  Bluntly, we would not be going anyplace.

The times we realize that we have allowed ourselves to be robbed, and even helped the robber, we need to submit to God. Seek Him, and allow Him to make all things new.

Blessings to you. Thanks for stopping by.

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