You've Never Failed and You Won't Stop Now

But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” Lamentations 3:21-24

“You’ve never failed and you won’t stop now.”

Once again, I’m pulling a line from that beautiful song, Oceans (where feet may fail), by Hillsong United, to focus on, as I write about trusting God.  He’s never failed.  Who can say that, but God? 

He’s never failed to love us and He’s never failed to listen to our prayers.   So what do we need to do to earn those privileges?  We need to be perfect (Matthew 5:48).  

You can’t do that?  Neither can I.  None of us can.  Only one person has never failed to live out what is required of us: Jesus, who is God the Son.  In full humanity, (meaning he did not use his divine attributes) He lived a perfect life, was sacrificed on the cross, conquered death, and lives today with his Father in Heaven, serving as a mediator between God and us.

Because of what Jesus did, and is still doing, we get to claim his perfection and be a part of His family when we choose to accept this gift, by repenting of our sin and asking Him to live in us and through us.  When we claim Jesus as our Savior, we are assured of God’s unfailing love.  He will never give up on us. 

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Think of the high price God paid for you. 

You are precious to Him and it doesn’t matter what you’ve done or how terribly you’ve failed- because it’s not about you.  It’s about Christ in you.  How could we possibly doubt that God would ever give up on us, ever fail us, when we consider what was done to earn our place in His family. 

God knows that we will continue to fail and that other people will fail us.  But he won’t fail us.  We are forgiven and we are loved- past, present, and future.  So now, when we strive to live up to all that is asked of us, as followers of Christ, it’s from a place of relationship-  because we love Him and want to do what’s best for the family, for HIs glory.  That's a whole different thing, than trying to earn God’s love. 

What do we do when it feels like God has failed us?  Sometimes it will feel that way, because we don’t have the complete picture.   We keep trusting- and we do that by keeping our eyes on Jesus.  We focus on who He is, and what He has done, rather than on our circumstances.   I like how the verse in Lamentations, that I quoted at the top of the page, says, “his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning.”   It makes me think about how each day really is a fresh start when we are in Christ.  God has never failed us and He will continue to be faithful.  It’s a promise.

And when we fail God?  What then?  We can turn back to him, remembering who we are in Christ.  He will never fail to welcome you back into loving relationship with open arms. 

Finally, know that others will fail you.  As people who are forgiven, we are then called to offer that same grace to those who fail us, by forgiving them.  It's not always easy.  But we can ask for strength from the Holy Spirit, through Christ, to give us the strength to do this.  

"When we fail to respond in Christlikeness to the disappointments of life, it's usually because we've forgotten all he has accomplished for us.” ― Elyse M. Fitzpatrick, Because He Loves Me: How Christ Transforms Our Daily Life

I have a song to share with you today.  It goes well with with what I've written.  It's called, You Never Fail, by Hillsong. Enjoy!

Linking up with Kelly and friends at #RaRalinkup