While this
may often be the case, it is no guarantee that a person will not have
tremendous failures and terrible deeds after making a decision to follow
Christ.
When
Christians sin and fail, they need to return to the Lord and repent in sorrow.
Consider
the men who sat at the table with the Lord on the night he was to be betrayed.
These were
men who had been chosen by Jesus to follow and learn the ways of God’s Kingdom. They had followed Jesus, heard the teachings
and even participated in miracles. They
had travelled out and taught the things He taught them. If they were part of our church, we would
look to them as leaders. And still they
failed.
Judas gave
up on Jesus and betrayed Him. The sorrow
that followed overwhelmed Judas and he took his own life. Such awful despair! Some of you have felt the sting of betraying
Jesus and been tempted to never return.
Peter vowed
his faithfulness to death and then betrayed the Lord three times in a single
night. At first he tried to defend the
Lord when the soldiers came. Peter tried
to defend Jesus and nearly killed a man when he cut off the man’s ear. But then he fled. Later the same night, he cursed and said he
had no knowledge of the man.
When
Christ’s crucifixion took place, the disciples fled and Jesus had no
defender.
But Jesus
returned to the disciples after rising from the dead. They were all in a state of shame, shock and
failure when He came to them. In their
weakness He came to them.
Jesus came
to Peter on the beach and renewed their relationship.
He appeared
to Thomas in his doubts and revealed Himself as the Risen One.
He came
back to the ones who ran away.
Do you not
think that He would also come to you and invite you to be renewed in your
relationship and forgiven of your failures?
Yes, some
of our worst sins happen after we know the Lord. It is then that we truly know how awful sin
is and are most disturbed by our failures.
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