all christians sin, baby

today i was with some of my beacon sisters, and a topic came up that im sure most of my friends can relate to. we were discussing feeling pressure to be perfect, bc people are looking to us to be a certain way and with certain expectations bc we are openly dedicated to truly following God. so when we mess up, we feel this burden of guilt, and if we arent messing up at the moment, we know we are going to and there is that pressure...

and it was curious, bc my devotional today was about that. and i had a long conversation with one of the besties about it late late last night [or early in the morning i should say].

how do we handle moments where we mess up openly? when we have damaged the Kingdom in the eyes of our friends, family, onlookers? when we have dishonored God in our actions and thoughts?

while we always mourn these moments and their consequences, we cant allow them to so consume us that we cease to be servants of God. satan not only delights in the moment of our failure, but also in the spiritual inactivity that sometimes we fall prey to in our remorse/guilt. when we have messed up our witness with iniquity, we are [and should rightly be] humbled and convicted. but we should not be consumed by guilt. we should not multiply the damage by retreating into silence and obscurity and thus ceasing to be ambassadors of Christ. we can move past failure.

we can learn from david after his humiliation in the bathsheba incident. although the consequences of that sin could not be avoided, he found his way back to a relationship with God that made it possible for him to continue to serve Him. he was a man after God's own heart even after the mess. we too can find our way back.

davids pattern in 2 samuel 12 serves us well:

1. declare our error candidly
2. seek God's forgiveness
3. ask God that others be spared the consequences of our actions
4. recognize that sometimes the consequences simply cannot be avoided and must be endured.

God forgives our sin completely to restore us to His presence and service. you will mess up many times, yet as long as you are walking in the Spirit, you will be forgiven and restored. so forgive yourself, recognize we all fall short, and keep it moving.