Here is the lovely promise again:
“He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” Rev 21:4 NIV
Mistakes. While we should definitely not seek them, we are children, and so mistakes will happen. We will sin. We will hurt someone’s feelings. We will forget that we are a New Creation in Christ and allow that old Jezebel to take over again. It is simply our reality this side of Heaven. When they happen, we shouldn’t fear them, after all, we cannot go back and eliminate them. There are no “do overs” in this life. But there are “make overs”! Once we have sinned, we have sinned. But with God’s Grace, we can work with Him as He works them together for good.
First, we come to God and confess it…not because He doesn’t already know, but because we have to admit our shortfall to ourselves. If we do not own the sin, that is take responsibility for it, we cannot work with God to bring some good out of it. Once we confess, God is faithful to forgive…I mean it is already forgiven but He reminds us of that fact and we do not allow that incident to come between God and ourselves anymore. The sin no longer causes a rift in our growing relationship. With the sin wiped clean, we can lean on God to tell us how to make it right. If we hurt someone for instance, we apologize…that means no excuse, just a simple, “I’m sorry, I blew it. Please forgive me, is there anything I can do to make it better.”
Again, of course, we should never sin on purpose, but when we falter, because we will, God will use it for good. It is through mistakes that God shows us what still needs to change within us. It grows us in humility as these mistakes remind us that we still need to grow up, because no one is perfect except our Lord Jesus. It leads us to live less and less by that “old order of things.”
Join me in memorizing 52 verses this year:
January: 1- Jn 3:16; 2- 2Co 5:17; 3- Jas 2:26; 4- Eph 2:10
5- Jn 10:10
6- Ro 6:23
7- Rev 21:4
<>< Peace, Diane
