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He did WHAT!?

September 4, 2013 cm-admin Inspire 0

4 Sept 2013 by Mindy Oon CM-

Have you ever made a mistake? Most Christians have a list of things they have done in their lives that they would rather not let other people know about. Some of these things may seem terrible and unforgivable, others, just plain dumb and embarrassing. Whichever it is, some of us believe that God can never love us because of our past mistakes. We dwell on these thoughts and think that we cannot be forgiven, and that we will never ‘measure up’ to being a ‘good Christian’. However, God’s love us bigger than we imagine, and we must realize that He loved us even before we knew about Him. We are imperfect. We sin. We all do the wrong thing from time to time. But God loves us. Here are a number of mess ups from the Bible, and how God still loved each one of them despite what they did.

Mess Up #1 – Eve

Eve was the first person to ever sin. She was the first person to disobey what had been commanded by her creator. She was tempted by Satan, and she failed miserably in saying no to the devil. Most of us are tempted from time to time, and at some point, we too may give in to temptation. Eve’s giving in to temptation brought about serious consequences – she and Adam had to leave the garden of Eden. But God never told them that He didn’t love them. In fact, it was God’s love and forgiveness that allowed them to continue living, and thus, the human race was born. Genesis 3:21-23 shows us that God still loved Adam and Eve despite the major mess up that happened – ‘Also for Adam and his wife the LORD God made tunics of skin, and clothed them. Then the LORD God said, “ Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”- therefore the LORD God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken.

Mess Up #2 – David

David was anointed King of Israel, and many times when we hear the story of David, we learn about what a great King he was. David defeated Goliath. He was chosen by God to replace Saul. He was a great military leader. But just as we are not perfect, David had his imperfections. David who was anointed and chose ruler over Israel was an adulterer and a murderer. Too put it bluntly, David slept with someone else’s wife. And then he lied about it. And after that he killed her husband. While he faced the consequences for his actions, God did not love him any less. You can read the full story in 2 Samuel 11 & 12.

Mess Up #3 – Peter

Peter is known as one of the Apostles who loved and followed Jesus. However, fear got the better of him when Jesus was about to be crucified. Jesus actually told Peter that he would deny him not once, not twice, but three times, and Peter believed (and said as much) that he would never ever deny that he was a follower of Christ. However, when the time came, Peter chickened out and did exactly what Jesus said he would do – he denied he ever knew His Lord. Mark 14:72 says ‘A second time the rooster crowed. Then Peter called to mind the word that Jesus had said to him, “Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny Me three times.” And when he thought about it, he wept. But this is not the end of the story. Jesus never held Peter to his mistake, and He never stopped loving Peter.

Mess up #4 – Thomas

You know the saying ‘He’s a doubting Thomas’? Well, it comes from Thomas in the Bible who was a doubter. Thomas was not sure whether to believe in Jesus’ resurrection. He needed proof. He doubted. There are times when many of us have doubts. It may be because of dissapointments that happen in our lives. We may doubt because the people around us don’t believe in Jesus. We may not know what to do, and doubt that God will show us the way. However, Jesus did not tell Thomas off for not believing. Instead, He offered His hands as proof that it was really Him and He had risen again. We, like Thomas, need to bring our doubts to God to get true answers.

The Bible is full of people who made mistakes. And what I personally like is, the Bible doesn’t erase the mistakes but puts it out there for us to read. The people in the Bible were people, like us. They were not perfect, they did all sorts of things. They murdered, they committed adultery, they denied Jesus, they doubted. And yet, God still used each one of them. And He can use us, if we just commit our lives to Him.