So You Sinned…What Next?

Paul felt out of place in the prayer meeting that evening. It wasn’t that the people around him were strangers or that he was in a completely new church. He was familiar with the ambience and would have thoroughly enjoyed the previous worship session if his circumstances were different.

Circumstances…

He’d had the power to change them, but instead, he had allowed his desire drive him to do what he knew God was very much against.

Remembering how he had disappointed God yesterday, he inhaled and hung his head.

What was worse? It wasn’t his first time doing it. Each time, he let his flesh have the upper hand, he repented and asked God to forgive him. But how could ever He become a man of stature in the spirit if he kept asking for God’s forgiveness?

How could he even fulfill the beautiful purpose God had shown him if his foot could still be caught in the web of the very thing he was called to preach against? What was to happen to his God-given visions and dreams?

He thought he knew the answer: Surely, God would replace him with someone else, someone else more spiritual, more holy than he was.

He shouldn’t even be in the service today. He wondered why he had come. There was no point trying to become someone he could never be.

He got up from his chair in the back and was about to leave unnoticed from the church, when he heard Pastor B ask the congregation a question. A question that stopped him in his tracks.

“If you were an athlete, what would you do if you were running a race and suddenly tripped and fell flat on your face in the presence of thousands of people?”

“Would you place your hand over your head and stay there, too ashamed to get up in front of the people who are rooting for you?”

“Or would you find the strength to get up and continue that race, not minding if you finish first or last, but because you want to live to tell the story that you finished your race?”

Paul turned around slowly.

Pastor B was Paul’s role model, a man he admired and respected deeply. The man was everything Paul hoped to be, but apparently, was not yet. He was composed, disciplined and full of wisdom. He not only preached holiness, but seemed to live it effortlessly. If only he could be like him…

“You’ve failed a test before, ruined a meal you were trying to cook, and made mistakes in relationships with people,” the pastor said, “Yet here you are still going, not giving up on life. Why do you want to give up on the person you’re becoming in God?”

Paul stared at his pastor, too amazed to move.

“Come on!” Pastor B shouted and the volume of his voice shook Paul to the bones.

“Stand up and finish that race!

Refuse to throw in the towel. God’s grace is real, but will only work if you submit yourself to it. God is not asking you to be holy by yourself and then approach Him, before you can be useful in His Kingdom. It’s only in His presence you even have the hope of being holy, not outside Him.

Confused, dirty, bloody, frustrated, angry… whatever defines your position with God, right now, STAY THERE. Stay in His presence until He makes you the person He wants you to be.

Don’t let shame keep you down. His grace is real, and He’s calling you to stand up and finish the race!”

Paul shuffled back to his seat and sat down with a sigh. He was disappointed with himself, but he had an inkling that Pastor B was who he was today because he didn’t allow his weaknesses to keep him away from the presence of God. That must be how he grew to be such an amazing man of God, exuding confidence, love and an aura that could best be described as glory.

Hey, you! Thanks for stopping by.
Have you ever felt like giving up on your walk with God because of repeated failures? How has God helped you rise again?