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Life is a marathon. In spite of our faith we can stumble. Sometimes we fail in areas we thought had been dealt with.
We have this treasure in earthen vessels. For a righteous man may fall seven times and rise again (Pr. 24:16). Even the righteous can fail. But, do your mistakes define you? Do they represent who you really are? Is it possible to recover and move forward in the grace of God?
“Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.” (Phil. 3:12)
Paul recognized his own weaknesses but didn’t let those weaknesses take him out of the race.
“Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 3:13-14)
Is it possible to forget the past? Is it possible to press on in Christ? Paul said it was. He refused to be defined by his mistakes and weaknesses.
“And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.” (1 Cor. 2:3)
That usually isn’t the way we think of Paul, but it is how he described himself at one point of his ministry. Even though he had been caught up to the third heaven and had heard Jesus speak to him, he still had moments of weakness, fear and trembling. And yet, he pressed on.
Don’t allow the enemy to define you. Don’t let your mistakes define you. Follow the path of the righteous and rise up. Press on. God’s love never fails.
“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” (Jer. 29:11)
Barry Bennett is an instructor- Charis Bible College Colorado. He is a graduate of Christ for the Nations Institute in Dallas, Texas, and has been serving the Lord since 1972. He and his wife, Betty Kay, have served on the mission field in Mexico, Guatemala, and in Chile, where they spent almost 12 years before returning to Texas in 2001.
