Failure Is Not An Option

“But now that faith has come, we are no longer under the law, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” 

~Galatians 3:25-28

I have worked since I was 13. First as a babysitter, then I cleaned a bar on Sundays, and at 15, I got my first real job with an actual paycheck—minus FICA and other taxes. That was a real shock. I didn’t know anything about taxes, Medicare, Social Security, or any of the stuff that went along with earning money in the adult world. Growing up and having to deal with adult issues was a shock but I learned quickly. We think life is full of rules when we’re kids and being a grown-up will give us freedom from our parents’ stupid demands—chores, curfews, who needs dumb rules like that? What we don’t realize is that once we are on our own, the rules of adulthood are much more demanding than anything our parents asked of us. We might have freedom to do as we want but we are still under the law of the land, the regulations of the governments on federal, state, and county levels dictate our lives. And, if we can’t handle that, and decide that we want to break all those rules, we wind up in places where the rules are fast and hard.

“For the righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of calamity (Proverbs 24:16).”

Following Jesus has a lot of requirements but unlike the laws of the world, it’s not difficult to follow Jesus and stick with the ‘rules’. I’ve heard people say they couldn’t be a Christian because they just can’t be that “good”. My reply is, “Neither can I.” I can’t be good enough for Jesus because like Paul, there is nothing good within me (Romans 7:18). I fail every single day. I lose my temper. I get frustrated with my dogs, my husband, and situations that I face. I’ve even been known to say a bad word from time to time. But does that mean I failed at being a Christian? Absolutely not. What separates us from the world is that we have been forgiven. Even when we fall, Christ is there to pick us up and move us forward, not to kick us when we’re down. No matter what we do, or how we think we’ve failed, as long as we get up, brush ourselves off and move forward in Christ, we are not failures in His eyes. We are children of the Most High, and He does not give up on us.

“Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:13-14).” 

Read Isaiah 11-16

© 2017 Marie McGaha