Don't Give Up

Dear Christian,

     I know where you are right now. Alone and angry and frustrated. You're sitting in the dark as you rail against yourself. “Again.” You ask yourself. “Why have I done this again?” For the hundredth time you find yourself in the aftermath of sin, of sin you chose to do for reasons that have now evaporated. I know this because I've been there, we all have. The life of a Christian is not one of perfection and sadly we often find ourselves repeating the same bad choices we swore never to make again.

     The first thing I'll say is this: Use it. Sin won't stop at merely getting you to choose the 'flesh'. It will use your grief to drive you further from God.  Grief and guilt are unusual. When used properly they can keep us humble, drive us to do better, and cause us to draw closer to God. Often though, our guilt makes us unwilling to approach the perfect God and can actually push us to further sin. It's important to remember that we are undeserving of His grace and deserving of His punishment, but we can't focus on that. We have to keep that fact in mind so that it informs the wonder and awe we experience from the knowledge of what He has done for us. That the Holy God of the universe would deign to save such as us shouldn't make us cower into the dirt, it should have us shouting for joy and praise! On the flip side, we must examine our sins and our behaviors and our history to be sure that the overall pattern is growth not simply a lack of freedom from sin. God has given us freedom, we don't -have- to sin, but we will. Not until glory will we be totally free. Use it, don't let your guilt simply sit there. Go to God and repent, ask for His help and He will be there with you.

     Furthermore, remember that you never deserved your salvation in the first place. I know that when I sin, when I have to repent of my actions, one of the first things that comes to my mind is the question “why on earth would God have saved me?” It's helpful to remember that God didn't save you because of anything within 'you'. To put it bluntly, He saved you because He chose to. That's it and we may never understand the reasons. We were utterly unworthy of salvation in the first place so we can't become less worthy than that. God saw all of your sin, all of it, from the time that He made time itself. He knew exactly what He was getting into when He saved you. There are no surprises, there are no regrets, and there is nothing that will cause Him to revoke that which He has given. If you're saved, if you really are, then know that you will never fall fully away. You will always return, God will always be calling you back or even dragging you back.

     So don't give up. Use your guilt and your mistakes. Take what the enemy want's to use to destroy you and give it to God so that He can build you up instead. Repent and move on from that dark room you find yourself in. Keep your eyes on the bright horizon and keep walking, keep fighting for every step and when you fall, get back up. 

 I'll be praying for you.