"To the most failing failure: you fail."
I've been struggling with myself lately. (I don't know, Mom, is it the shorter days? What is with this?) It seems like the harder I try, the less I accomplish, and the more I want to do, the less I get done. It seems like when I finally finish something, it's not finished well, or it leaves me with a bitter taste in my mouth; a sense that I could have done it better. If only, if only, if only...
The hard truth is that I fail.
I'm not what I should be. I'm not what I'm supposed to be.
Here, though, is where the amazing truth comes in.
I'm not what I once was. I'm not what I have been.
God is so gracious. Everything that I am not is found in Christ. All of my sin - all of my failure - is gone. All of Christ's righteousness is given to me. God looks at me, and He does not see a failure. He sees His child. He sees His perfect one.
His love is not based upon what I accomplish. It is not up to my successes - or my failures.
I can't understand that. It is too wonderful for me to grasp.
I imagine sometimes, though, what it will be like when that great and terrible day comes.
Just think; because of Christ, we can come before God with confidence. We can draw near to the throne of grace without fear.
I like to imagine that I will walk up to the throne with smiling eyes, because I'll see Jesus there - and He will have smiling eyes too. Not by my own might, not by my own success, will I be so free. It is only because of Jesus.
If ever there were a monument set up to remember my failures, the inscription should not be what I mentioned above; rather, it should be something like this:
"She was a failure.
But she was a failure saved by grace, loved by God, and redeemed by Christ."
To Him be the glory, both now and forevermore.
