What does the name Thomas Edison bring to mind? Or Abraham Lincoln? How would you describe Walt Disney, Lucille Ball, or Michael Jordan? If you read their biographies, you’ll find they all had one thing in common—multiple failures! Yet when someone mentions a name like Oprah Winfrey, no one says, “Oh, you mean that woman who couldn’t make it as a news anchor?” And we don’t describe Vincent Van Gogh as the poor artist who only sold one painting in his lifetime. We give them grace for all their mistakes because those pale in the light of their successes.
God has His own “winners list” in Hebrews 11. But these people succeeded due to their faith, not because of what they accomplished on their own. By faith Abel…, by faith Enoch…, by faith Noah…, by faith Abraham…, through faith also Sarah… (Hebrews 11:4-12). These Old Testament believers, and many others (like Moses, Samson, and David) received God’s gold star for acting in faith. They trusted God would do what He promised, that He always was and would continue to be faithful to His Word. And yet many in this list also committed blatant sins we would consider shameful. God includes those failures in plain view of any Bible reader, not hiding their mistakes or making excuses for their behavior.
In fact, throughout the Bible we read one account after another of people messing up. It would be embarrassing if it weren’t for one fact: God is not embarrassed! That’s because the Bible is not so much about their badness as it is about God’s goodness! It was their choice whether or not to trust Him to take care of them, to help them, to love them. But as a reward for their trust, He poured out grace that covered their every shortcoming.
That extravagant grace extends to us. As illogical as it seems, While we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly…God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:6-8). God wanted us to experience a full and abundant life, but sin stood in the way. We were powerless to overcome it on our own, so He sent Jesus. All those things we’re ashamed of, even offenses of which we’re unaware—future mess-ups included—Jesus has taken out of the way, nailing them to His cross (Colossians 2:14).
We run into problems when we fail, or refuse, to believe that Jesus atoned for our past, present, and future sins at the cross. There’s no point in judging and condemning ourselves for our imperfect behavior because that judgment already fell on Christ (Romans 8:1, John 3:17). When a debt has been satisfied in full, there is no further payment to make. Where all charges have been dropped, the defendant can rest!
Stop looking at your shortcomings and failures and embrace the grace God offers! See yourself as God sees you—as His child (Galatians 3:26), seated in heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6), sanctified (Hebrews 10:10), and as the temple of the Holy Spirit (I Corinthians 6:19). If you are in Christ, your name has been added to the book of life (Philippians 4:3). Meditate on these truths and step into your blood-bought freedom!
