Messed Up!

Today I had a talk with someone that I want to share here. We will call this woman Jane for the sake of her identity. Jane and I sat down, and she said "I'm pregnant". As we talked, she also told me that her boyfriend wasn’t the father. However, he is aware of this because she went to him and confessed. I also had a talk with her boyfriend about his feelings, and of course he was hurt, but during the conversation he said that he still loves her and forgives her. While most people who get involved in cheating end up apart, her boyfriend said he still wants to continue the relationship. 

This reminded me of God's love! Even though we mess up, make a mistake, or sin, God still loves us! He knows we are weak and sometimes give in to the temptations and deceptions of sin, and with this being said, we all need forgiveness because we've all had moments we messed up. It doesn't matter how long a person been saved, or how much of the Bible a person may know–– all of us at one time or another has messed up bad in our lives. In fact the Bible says: “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23) and 1 John 1:8 says “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us”.

But...what do you do when you realize that you’ve messed up?

In the Bible, we find several people who messed up. Let’s look at the story of David. David was a man after God’s own heart (Acts 13:22), yet David messed up! In 2 Samuel 11 and 12:7-15, David committed at least seven sins. He neglects his duty, entertains lustful thoughts, acts upon his lust and commits adultery, seeks to cover up his sin, conspires to commit murder, covers up the natures of Uriah’s death, and steals the wife of another. However, when God confronted David through Nathan, David repented of his sins and God forgave him for what he had done. Note: God didn’t take away the consequences, but he did forgive. In 2 Samuel 12:13, “And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said unto David, The Lord also hath put away thy sin; thou shall not die.”

As we see from the story of David, no sin is too great to be forgiven! But keep in mind, it’s not a question of IF you sin, it is a question of WHEN you sin, how will you respond?  1 John 1:9 says, if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from ALL unrighteousness. This verse was written as an encouragement to deal with sin and a promise that when we do so, God will be faithful to forgive us... let me reassure you that just because we serve a forgiving God, this does not give us license to continue in sin. Also, not only has provision been made that we might be forgiven, but that we might be restored, made new. The Bible says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ… (1 Corinthians 5:17, 18). Our life will be made different in the “inward” parts as we allow God to cleanse our hearts, work in our lives, and enable us by His Holy Spirit. We should be vigilant every day not to sin and strive for perfection every day. However, when you do sin, let's follow David’s example of true repentance, i.e. sorrow for sin and turning away from it when you mess up. David’s example of true repentance is found in Psalms 51:1-14

In sum, we all mess up, but as Christians we should turn away from the sin that is messing us up! Not only that, but it's important to note that there will still be consequences even for forgiven sins. Just as Jane was forgiven, she had the same consequence as David...2 Samuel 11:5 says, "The woman conceived; and she sent and told David, and said, "I am pregnant."