Has God Given Up On Me?

Hard Truth

I must admit I have said this before "I've promised God hundreds of times that I'll do better, but then I goof up and go back to my old ways. God must have given up on me long ago. I would have, if I'd been in His place."

One of the hardest truths for us to grasp about God is that He isn’t exactly like we are. If I were in God’s place, my patience would have run out long ago. But thank God I am not in God’s place! The Bible says, “But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness” (Psalm 86:15). In ourselves we don’t have the strength we need to change our lives and do what is right. At least not consistently. We are morally and spiritually weak, and without God’s help we can never overcome our tendency to do wrong. Even Paul said, “I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do this I keep on doing” (Romans 7:19).

I Will Sin 

But listen, God still loves you, and He wants to come into your life and help you. And He will, as you admit your sins and your helplessness to Him, and ask Jesus Christ to come into your life. Then ask God every day to help you follow Jesus instead of your old ways of living. It's a constant struggle for me also. But if my confidence for salvation is in my confidence that I will not sin again then I am in a lot of trouble. I will inevitably continue to sin to some degree. One thing the Bible makes clear to me is that if it were up to my strength to guarantee my future salvation, then I would have no hope of making it.

Confidence

“He who has begun a good work in you will perfect it to the end.” My confidence rests in the fact that Jesus promises to intercede for me daily. My confidence for my future salvation rests in my confidence that God will keep his promise.
Look at it this way. If your perseverance depended upon you holding tightly to God’s hand, we would surely fall away because at some point we will let go. But I believe that the Bible teaches us that God is holding our hand, and because he is holding me, I don’t have to fear that I will fall ultimately.