IF FAILURE WERE FINAL FOR THE CHRISTIAN …IT WOULD MEAN THE SACRIFICE OF THE CROSS OF JESUS…FAILED!
IF FAILURE WERE FINAL…– There would be no chapter 11 in Hebrews!
The chapter is often called “The hall of faith”….some people killed, some were involved in all kind of sin, yet it is said near the end of the chapter “and all of these gained APPROVAL though their faith.” They did not allow their failures, sin, to define them. They got up and pressed on, CHOOSING to trust Him… and so must you. To sit in despair, regret, can be a form of selfishness and the enemy pounding you with your past failures but he will never remind you of THE BLOOD OF JESUS THAT CLEANSES FROM ALL UNRIGHTEOUSNESS… which includes YOU… You can repent, return, REJOICE that HE LOVES you! The cross is His evidence, it cries out I LOVE YOU! To turn inward and focus on your failures and sin is to fail to look to Jesus, it is to say with your actions and thinking that the Lord Jesus, is not sufficient for me! It is to live as though there was no death to pay for your sin and no resurrection to say God accepted His Son’s sacrifice on your behalf! Get up from your despondency and seek to love Him today through trusting what He says in His Word, obeying Him and reaching out to serve others…Don’t sit in despondency any more- it is not His will.
The words of the hymn writer says it well, “…arise my soul arise, shake off thy guilty fear, the bleeding sacrifice on Thy behalf appears. Before the Throne my Savior stands; my name is written on His hands. He ever lives above to intercede with His redeeming love, His precious blood to plead….” “Man looks on the outward appearance, God looks on the heart.”
You cannot change the past but you can CHOOSE to live and walk with Him in the present…
Walk on “forgetting what lies behind ” no longer allowing it to influence or chain you…walk on with Him who loves you-Jesus “the Friend of sinners.” Read Hebrews 11 and let God minister HOPE to your heart through His Word. Thank God He is the God of Hope!
IF FAILURE WERE FINAL IN THE CHRISTIAN LIFE...there would be no Christians!
BUT…
“…the blood of Jesus cleanses from ALL unrighteousness…” so we can continue on, looking to Him and sharing Him. Your failures do not define you, “In Christ,…” Jesus Christ defines you!. There are “