“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.” (Philippians 2:5-8)
The second baseman went down for the routine ground ball … but he didn’t get his ball glove down low enough and took his eye off of the ball … the batter is safe on first base.
The golfer steps up to the tee … takes the club back too fast and descends too sharply … he catches the ball in the wrong portion of the clubface … he shanks the ball!
The husband has the opportunity to commend his wife on the great meal she just prepared … especially with all of the duties and things she has been doing all day … his mind is somewhere else with things at work … he fails to say “Honey that was a great meal, thanks so much.”
The wife has the opportunity to thank her husband when we walks in from a long day at work for being the provider of as many needs as he is able … she is just so tired from her hard day at home … she fails to thank him which would have most certainly encouraged him on this particular day.
All of the above mentioned scenarios and so many others occur daily in our lives don’t they? We ought to be trying to avoid these mistakes, but they will continue to present themselves to us and we must strive to do better because God says we can.
In the same way, no one who is genuinely trying to please the Lord the best they can likes to admit it … sometimes along the way we grow weak in our faith:
- We forget who is in charge and it is not us!
- We forget that we’re all human!
- We forget that being human is not an excuse to sin!
- We forget that when we do sin … when we acknowledge our sin … genuinely repent of our sins … that God forgives us!
- We forget to be more patient … with ourselves and with others!
- We forget to remember what all that the Lord and His Son, Jesus Christ, have done for us … God gave His only begotten Son … Jesus gave His life’s blood!
Imagine this scene in your mind’s eye …
“When my love for Christ grows weak, when for deeper faith I seek, then in thought I go to thee, Garden of Gethsemane”
“There I walk amid the shades, while the lingering twilight fades, see that suffering, friendless One, weeping, praying there alone.”
“When my love for man grows weak, when for stronger faith I see, Hill of Calvary I go to Thy scenes of fear and woe.”
“There behold His agony, suffered on the bitter tree; See His anguish, see His faith, Love triumphant still in death.”
“Then to life I turn again, learning all the worth of pain; learning all the might that lies in a full self-sacrifice.” *When My Love To Christ Grows Weak, J.R. Wreford
My friend, life truly is a journey with its ups and downs, twists and turns. Life is a combination of success and failure, happiness and sorrow, but it is still life and with each new day given to us by our loving and caring God we can choose to be with Him or against Him, but there is no middle ground!
We all make mistakes! We all stumble! We should never just give in or give up! We cannot afford to listen to the voice of the evil one as he whispers “God doesn’t care about you” or “You will never be able to measure up to His expectations of you” or “Heaven is just not available for someone like you.”
When it happens … when we do stumble again, say or do the wrong thing again … when we start losing our spiritual strength and the will to fight against temptation and trial … this is when we need to go back to the events of the Garden of Gethsemane … to the horror of Calvary’s Hill! Just one reading of this story ought to recapture our hearts and minds.
We need to remember that He will never leave us, forsake us, or forget about us!
Bill Fairchild, Jr.
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