Romans 10:8-11
8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, 9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him will not be put to shame.”
I wish I could tell you that I was perfect.
I wish I could tell you that I never let anyone get under my skin or intimidate me.
Yet if I made either statement, I would make myself a liar.
I recently had an exchange that I would love nothing more than to take back. I was flustered, I was a bit in my emotions after the person metaphorically "put their finger in the bullet hole," and I flubbed a gimme question that no one should.
That question, "tell me then, how is a person saved."
A simple question, right?
Of course it is, but not when you have become emotional and are running through countless hours and hours of theological training and education.
My answer came off convoluted and mish-mashed. I could have kicked myself.
Now, as a pastor I regularly tell my congregation that we have to drop the "image of perfection" as it turns people away because they either think we are hypocrites or they think they cannot possibly measure up. I am no different, and I hold myself to the same standard. So, when I make a mistake, it is time to fess up to it because that will help others to know that God continues to use us and work with us even though we make mistakes and are not perfect.
Let us be crystal clear. Salvation is through faith alone in Christ's atoning work. As Paul writes, believe with your heart and confess with your mouth and you will be saved. That is it. Done. Signed, sealed, and delivered.
Now it is time to work on sanctification, which is a life long journey.
Yet, in that moment, I lost my composure and I fumbled the ball at the one yard line.
Am I ashamed? Sure, but God has reasons for what happens to us beyond that which we know, understand, or could even understand. This includes this event. I am no different from any of you. I am just at a different point in my faith walk and walking out a different calling.
And therein is the take away for today.
You can let your failure define you, and sit and stew in it (believe you me, it is much easier than you think); or you can pull up your breaches and get back to work.
I would never want to shame the work that God is doing by sitting and sulking while ignoring His call.
So I will not, and neither should you.
We must keep pressing forward. Always towards Him.
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