Do you recognize your failures? Are you aware when you fall short of achieving a task? Do you berate yourself for missing the mark? Are you driven to overcome the failure with success in the future? Do you apply this same attitude to your walk with God?
Many of us are driven to succeed. We work hard to accomplish our tasks in our jobs. Often, we put in extra time to improve ourselves professionally. If we fail to complete a task at the standard we’ve set for ourselves or our boss has set, we work even harder to do better at the next task.
For many of us, failure is not an option. We won’t give up when we fail, we’ll simply put more effort into succeeding in the future. We may study, read, practice, or take on any number of other improvement initiatives.
Unfortunately, we don’t apply this method to the way we live our lives. What do I mean by that? We don’t seek to do better in our attitudes, our health, the way we treat others, our emotional well-being, nor our spiritual health. What we apply to our jobs is discarded when it comes to self-improvement.
If we were to read, study, and strive to improve ourselves emotionally, physically, and spiritually, we would find ourselves much better off. We fail to realize we need all three of these to be healthy and well-balanced to truly enjoy our lives. If we do come to this realization, it is often late in life when we must overcome other challenges as well.
Often it is our spiritual health that suffers the most. We fail to see our own sin. We fail to study, read, and practice spiritual strengthening exercises. We fail to pray as often as we should. We fail to seek God’s guidance in everything we do. We fail to ask God for forgiveness.
We need to pray, confessing our failures to meet God’s expectations and asking for His forgiveness. Our spirit needs this cleansing. We need to ask God to guide us as we read His word and strive to improve our spiritual well-being. As we do so, we will see our lives improve.
I pray we all seek God’s guidance and forgiveness. I pray we strive to walk more in step with God each day. I pray each one of us will confess our sin and seek to remove it from our lives. Seek God’s guidance. Ask for God’s forgiveness. Confess your sin. Seek to eliminate sin. Trust God. God is patiently waiting for you.
Psalm 51:1-2
Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.
Marty Pressey 