“But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers” (Luke 22:32).
Sometimes, we make mistakes and opportunity slips through our fingers. One autumn morning, with a cloudy sky and a chill in the air, a disheveled man approached me. Presented with an opportunity to display Christ’s love to a beggar, I turned away.
A test had come my way, and I was found wanting. The event stayed with me the entire day, and I spoke about it with my colleagues as I wrestled with my failure to offer even “a cup of cold water” (Matthew 10:42) to one of Christ’s little ones.
Sadly, my memory is littered with other times where I was found wanting as a Christian. Perhaps you have similar memories, times where you “grieved the Holy Spirit.”—times when the Christian you long to be remained quiet and subdued by your lesser self. After all, the Bible truthfully tells us “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).
The errors we make, if not dealt with in a godly fashion, will debilitate us, causing us to stay off our purpose (to be Christ’s hands and feet in this world) and to linger outside of God’s forgiveness.
Learning to become a Christian is a lot like learning how to ride a bicycle in this regard: when we fall down we can choose to get up and ride again, or we can put the bike in the garage. The following five steps help me find the courage to get on the “Christian” bike again and continue to be of service to God after I have fallen short of Christ’s example.
- Repentance. Repentance is the act of desiring to change behaviors because we are convinced our prior behavior or thought was sinful, and to make and act upon a conscious decision to turn away from the former behavior towards what God wants. I knew my decision to ignore the beggar was wrong and I longed for the opportunity to make it right.
- Return. It is God alone who restores us. Yet too often we stand in our own sin, trying to work out for ourselves the steps we can take to do better next time. To this I remind you of the prodigal son who made the decision to return to his father. Alone in the pigpen he found repentance, but hope and a future were found in returning home.
- Resume. We must resume our walk with Christ and leave to Christ our past. Isn’t that the essence of our salvation? We are saved once, but we fall down many times. Until we become perfect in His presence, we will need to put our past behind us and resume our heeding of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
- Regain. When we resume our Christian walk we regain our confidence and our power. If we are nothing apart from Christ, we are everything with Him. The Bible says, “Draw near to God and he will draw near to you” (James 4:8). Resuming our devotion to Christ positions us to regain our momentum.
- Restoration. “But God demonstrates his love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). God restores all things. He restored Peter to service on a beach 2,000 years ago (John 21:17), and He will restore you to service, too. We are not what we should be, but God loves us anyway.
There are so many blessings that God bestows on His people, but I am very glad He is willing to restore us to service and fellowship. Confidence and peace are ours when we walk with God. The next time you stumble, follow the five “R’s” and let Christ restore you to fellowship and service.
Oh, and by the way, I found the beggar the next day and gave him something to eat. I offered him peace and a place at a table for that is what Christ offered me.
Blessings and peace to you In Christ Jesus.