The first step in dealing with failure and regret is to see that Jesus wants you restored to Him and He has paid a huge price to redeem you.
To meditate/pray upon
John 18:27 ‘Again Peter denied it, and at that moment a rooster
began to crow.’
Mark 14:72 ‘Immediately the rooster crowed the second time. Then
Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken to him: “Before the rooster crows
you will disown me three times.” And he broke down and wept.’
Peter could have been
haunted by his failure forever. He had openly contested Jesus’ warning about
falling away saying, “I will lay down my life for you.” (13:37) and “Even
if all fall away…I never will.” (Matt. 26:33) His pride would have been
destroyed; He would have felt ashamed of himself before man and God.
How will we handle things when we let God, others and ourselves down?
The wrong way to handle mistakes is to believe that there is no way
back; that God has closed the door on you forever. People may cite scriptures
like the ‘unforgiveable sin’ (Matt. 12:31) as grounds for their never being
restored.
Let me test if you are beyond God’s grace with a question: Do you
want to serve and love Jesus? If your answer is “yes” then the Holy Spirit is still
active in your life.
Clay Jones has written,
‘It can be easy for
Christians struggling with rampant but unfocused insecurities to blame their
anxieties on something tangible such as, “Maybe I’ve committed the unpardonable
sin!” But we must subdue such anxieties by taking every thought captive (2 Cor.
10:5) and rooting our lives in the knowledge of the clear teaching of
Scripture. For no one who has fixedly refused the work of the Holy Spirit would
be worried that he or she might have offended the Holy Spirit. The very fact that
a person would be concerned about his or her relationship with Jesus is
evidence that he or she isn’t hardened against the Holy Spirit!’
The first step in dealing with failure and regret is to see that Jesus
wants you restored to Him and He has paid a huge price to redeem you.
You can catch up on all the messages in the
John series at:
http://www.communitychurchputney.com/community-church-putney--audio---resources.html
0 comments:
Post a Comment