Everyone else doesn’t give me a pass!
I’ve been inspired to write about my failures by a couple of other guys I read on a daily basis and it occurs to me that in large part my failures are a matter of quitting. I’ve quit diets, health regimens, action plans and heck, even LIFE plans. I’ve simply left them in the dust and the wreckage of an imperfect life. Why have I done this and why do I continue to do so? Because I know on the biggest most important issue regarding my life I have a safety net.
God forgives me. God loves me even with all my crummy traits and shortcomings and awful screw-ups. God says I’m okay, I’m good. Maybe if he’d throw down some bad health stuff or failed dreams or uncomfortable life situations as a result of my sins I’d realize that in all things I have to sleep in the bed I’ve made. But he doesn’t do that.
God says that as long as I recognize and accept that his Son took all of my bad stuff on his back and bore it to the cross so it could die there that I don’t have to. Do I have to repent and try to do the right thing after I’ve messed up with God? You bet I do. I’m expected to ‘fess up and come clean on a daily basis and I’m also expected to realize because he and his boy did this for me that I need to follow their word. The difference between God and my poor eating habits is that each day I start out with a clean slate with Him but unfortunately with a few more pounds with the other. With one my fitness and my body erodes a little more every day and with the other I’m made new again. And how is that going to teach me anything?
The short answer is it isn’t except for maybe one thing. My life is a gift. Everything I do and anything I accomplish while I’m here have been bought and paid for with another man’s blood. Everything and anything is part of my Father’s plan and I just need to execute. When I foul up I’ll be forgiven in a way that nothing else on earth can forgive me. If there is good I can do I simply must do it. I think that is my charge, to live a life of love and compassion for my fellow man who like me, struggles with accountability and falls down a lot. It should be me that picks him up.
Accepting a no-strings, no thank you needed gift is tough but that’s what we’ve been given. Maybe someone you know needs to hear that. If so, please share this with them.
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