Are you stuck in the mistakes of your past?
So many of us are deflated, worn out, caught in the vortex of sins that haunt us…yet we want to do more for God. We feel inadequate or that we aren’t quite fixed enough to be used to reach our neighbors, or serve at church, or even represent Christ at all.
Well, if you feel that way, you’re not alone! See, at the very height of Jesus’ stress, when he needed his friends the most, they let him down. In Matthew 26, Jesus headed to the Garden to pour out his heart to his father. Jesus’ arrest and crucifixion were near and he was so stressed he broke capillaries and sweated blood! He asked his best friends to pray along with him. Three times he went to check on them and every time they were sleeping on the job. I find what Jesus said to them after the third time to be an amazing picture of God’s grace. In a nutshell, he said, “alright guys, I know you’re tired, you’ll get rest later, let’s go on to the next thing.”
Notice that Jesus didn’t dwell on the big let-down of his friends. He didn’t throw them away because after three chances, they failed. No, he told them to get up and let’s go to the next thing.
So, if your past mistakes, whether from years ago or just yesterday, have you thinking God can’t or won’t use you…Get up, lay your mistakes to rest on the grace of Jesus Christ and go do the next thing. Jesus says, “Arise, let us be going.”
~ Brett Larson
