Something We All Do Every Day, Fail God

[Bro. Bill]

Bro Bill- I read most of your devotional threads, and I appreciate them very much. I have debated posting on this one though because I don't want to be misunderstood, and I'm not entirely positive that I can get my idea across without sounding confrontational or being labeled "Anti-Bro Bill", lol. I am Pro-Bro Bill! But since this is a subject I feel strongly about, I decided to try to get my ideas straight, hopefully nobody will take it the wrong way. Hopefully we can share ideas/discuss without that happening. That is why we are all here, after all.

The subject of your thread is "We Fail God Every Day". I disagree. I do believe that we sin and will continue to do so from now on, but to me that does not translate into "Failing God". I believe that we live under Grace. To me- the condemnation of failure is Old Testament Law that discounts Grace. (You did mention Grace in your thread.) In my opinion, if there were no Grace, the whole thing would be very disheartening and frankly, pointless. I imagine myself as a non-believer sitting in a church somewhere. I hear the preacher say "I've got some good news for you- join the Kingdom of God!". So I decide in my heart to do that, fully believing that God is good, and that I will have a relationship with him and share the Good News with others. But then the preacher says "You've been saved and forgiven, but you're a failure, and you're going to fail God every day of your life from now on no matter what". That wouldn't exactly be "good news" to me. I would think that God was just some mean taskmaster sitting up there with his lightning rod ready to strike me down every time I failed him. And would I have to keep gettting saved every day? And I wouldn't want to share that "good news" with any of my non-believer friends either. I would not want to live under that condemnation every day.

It's almost like having a bad set of tires. Every night when you go to bed, all the air leaks out of them. So you have to air them up the next morning. Some salesman comes to your door with a new set and says "These are the best tires in the world! They are perfect! You'll never have tire problems again". So you buy them expecting them to be great tires. But then you still have to air them up every morning. This made no difference in your life at all. The only thing that changed is that your neighbor could say "Oh look, Teddy got new tires!". Does that make any sense? I guess that was the first thing I thought of because I just bought new tires, lol.

I feel like we (as believers) are constantly being subjected to a subtle but very powerful lie from the enemy that we are failures, and that we will always be failures. If we believe this, then really- what is the point of going on? Our plight would be hopeless. I do believe that we are constantly under attack from an Enemy who hates us and fears what we could become if he left us alone. We were, after all, made in the image of a Warrior God. He can't let that happen, so he must remove us from what we were created to be. I guess what I'm trying to say is that relationship is essential, and duty is not. We can't perform well enough to "pass God's test" (I don't believe there is one), but we can have a personal relationship with him under Grace, where it doesn't matter if we are inadequate. I am NOT saying that it doesn't matter if we sin because we're under Grace- so we can just do whatever we want. That's not how it works. But the Father knows that we are under attack- he knows the enemy very well.

In my opinion, telling a believer that they are a failure, and that they will fail every day, is essentially telling them that they are not good enough for God. If somebody told me that, that's what I would think they were saying. It would translate to me that "If you REALLY loved God- you would not fail". I believe that the phrases "If you were really a Christian" or "If you really love God" are the worst thing you can say to someone. Here is an interesting quote from William Gurnall:

The devil has more temptations than an actor has costumes for the stage. And one of his all-time favorite disguises is that of a lying spirit, to abuse your tender heart with the worst news he can deliver-that you do not really love Jesus Christ and that you are only pretending, you are only deceiving yourself. (William Gurnall)


Here is a quote from the book Waking the Dead by John Eldredge:
I don't think we should buy into the lie that we are failures. In my opinion, Grace and our relationship with the Father nullifies that. Does that make any sense? I believe that our hearts are good. Another quote from the book: Well to me it's NOT normal. We shouldn't live under that cloud. That condemnation that our hearts are bad. That WE are bad.

Does any of this make sense? I hope I'm not rambling, just trying to put thoughts together. Again, I'm not saying "You are wrong", I am just sharing with you guys what I thought when I saw "failure". Bro Bill- thanks again for the post. Let me know your opinions and let's discuss.

Cam

Wow Amen
you had some wonderful points Cam..and first of all all these devotionals arent all my words.. ( some i do type up or add to) but most of the time i read and pass them on, and there is areas that we can agree to disagree on. as with anything else.. i feel with these scritures here from Romans Rom 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;thus verse 26 we kinda do fail him...BUT HE PROVIDED THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB... AMEN
I'M NOT ONE FOR A LONG DRAWN OUT DEABATE PAUL WARNED US NOT TO GET CAUGHT UP IN THE ENDLESS DISCUSSIONS.I like what a old preacher told me one time,Bro.Bill He said some like their turkeys spicy Cajun fried. and some like it baked,,,, same turkey different flavor,... .. referring to not only baptist will make it to heaven nor Catholics... or what ever denomination... only the ones who have been washed in the blood of the LAMB JESUS CHRIST make it to heaven..
Thanks for the reply,, and PM me any time
Love Through Calvary

[Cam-Mac]

His grace IS sufficient.

So true- good points.

[Cam-Mac]

I'm not one for a long drawn out debate

10-4. Great point- it doesn't really matter... you're exactly right. I think we probably completely agree, just word it differently, which doesn't make a bit of difference anyway.

only the ones who have been washed in the blood of CHRIST make it to heaven..

True true. Thanks for the reply- and again, always love reading what you pass on! Thanks, Cam

[millman]

many thanks to both of gentlemen!

[VorTexan]

thanks for the Word!