In addition to posting to this blog I also send these post in an email newsletter. In my last email newsletter I had
a typo in the header. It read, "I
don't believe that Jesus’ last miracle was healing someone who planned to be
His enemy." It should have read,
"I don't believe it was an accident that
Jesus' last miracle was healing someone who planned to be His enemy."
The header line is something I
don’t plan well; duh. This one I typed
in with my mind running a lot faster than my fingers and I made a mistake. What I found interesting was my own
reaction. I have perfectionist tendencies,
something that is very bad for a person like me who makes a lot of mistakes. I reacted to finding this typo by ripping
myself up one side and down the other. I
was furious with myself. Not only had I made a mistake, but I had denied one of
the miracles. I tried to send a follow
up email or retraction and apology, but the email server limits me to only one
a day.
After I calmed down a bit, I
realized that I was living outside of grace.
I was acting as if my typo was something that would some how put my soul
in danger. I was acting as if only
perfect performance was sufficient and my failure would be the end of me. I made a mistake; it was unintentional,
singular, and did not reflect my convictions.
I am not sure it was even a sin, but that is a discussion for another
time. But I reacted or over reacted in
how I berated myself.
I don’t meant to make light of
sin, but isn’t that the point of grace? Grace
is not having to be good enough. Grace
is only grace if it comes to the rescue of those who, by intent or by accident,
fail. Grace would not be grace if it
were some how optional. If I didn’t
really need it, then it would not be grace.
And here is the point: I don’t need to excoriate myself for
failures. The gospel of the Old
Testament says,
But
He was pierced for our transgressions,
He
was crushed for our iniquities;
The
punishment that brought us peace was upon Him.
And
by His wounds we are healed. Is. 53.5
NIV
In other words, I don’t need to
be beaten up for my failures, either by myself or by someone else. Someone has already taken the beating and
punishment that all my failures, from typo to acts of open rebellion, truly
deserve. I will continue to dislike it
when I make a mistake; I really don’t ever want to get too comfortable with
failure. But what I do with those
failures needs to be shaped by a personal understanding and application of
grace.
One of my professors was reported
to have a sermon that he would preach from time to time called, “The Campaign
Platform of the Gospel: Welfare, Rest and Free Love” taken from Romans 6. The main points being:
1. Welfare, it is undeserved: Know what Christ
has done for you on the Cross, v3
2. Rest, in the finished work of Christ: You are
dead to sin, but alive in Christ, v11
3. Free love, our response to God: give yourself
over to God, v13
Good theology always preaches and
always has practical applications to life.
So, if you find errors in this treatise, know for certain that they
aren’t there on purpose. And while I
will gladly make corrections, I know God loves me anyway. That makes my failures, both the little typos
and the acts of rebellion, easier to deal with.
On an unrelated subject, if you
are going to the Catalyst Atlanta please let me know. I would like to make an introduction for you
at this year’s gathering.
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