“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” Romans 3:23
A few years ago, I found myself talking to two homeless men sitting behind a Starbucks, as I’ve always wanted to know why someone is where they are. When I mentioned Jesus, one of them stared off into the distance saying, “I was saved, once…”. I never asked him what he did or what happened, but his words pained me because I understood what he meant.
You see, there are so many people who claim to be “Christians” that think they are saved and they aren’t. There are also many people who genuinely did surrender their hearts and lives to Christ, but they messed up somewhere or something painful happened to them so they think God dropped them or threw them away. But that’s far from the truth.
As a youth pastor, I had always felt the need to be perfect. I had somewhat of a religious spirit, thinking in order to please God I had to do everything right. I would push myself to read the Bible and pray a certain amount of time daily. I wanted people to be proud of me so I would do anything and everything I could to show that “I was a good Christian young lady and could do no wrong”. On the inside of me though, nobody knew the childhood pain and trauma I still carried in my heart that I hadn’t let God deal with. That pain surfaced one day when I lashed out in anger at not only my own pastor, but at one of my youth girls who saw me as a spiritual mother. I had hurt the people I was meant to love and failed God, so I ran.
Unfortunately, we can never outrun God. Falling on my face and failing was one of the best things that could ever happen to me. It not only broke me to the point that God was finally able to heal the brokenness I tried to hide, but it’s helped me truly understand what grace and mercy are.
We tend to view God the way we view people, through conditional love. People are quick to drop us when we mess up or do or say something wrong. We get thrown away, we get ridiculed and second chances or forgiveness are not easily given. The love people give is typically conditional and if we don’t meet those conditions, then love gets removed.
God does not love like man. His love is unconditional. The Bible says that “when we were sinners Christ died for us”. His love isn’t based off of what we do and it’s not taken away when we’ve done something wrong. His love is given even when we refuse it or don’t believe it.
God never created us to be perfect because if we were, we would have no need for Him. We would have no need for a Savior. But He knows knows our weaknesses. He knows we cannot save ourselves. He knows the end from the beginning. He knows we are bound to fall, get hurt or get lost along the way. And it’s s in those places and seasons when we feel God has left us or thrown us away, that He is actually very near. It’s when we fall short and find ourselves broken that we can actually find healing and transformation if we allow it. It’s in the falling that we can be built back better and stronger than before. It’s in the falling where God’s hand is waiting to help you back up.
All the Pursuit 