God has mercy on failures

Have you started taking inventory of 2019 yet? How did the year go for you? Can you remember any successes you might have had? Something you wished you had done better? Is 2019 a year you'll never forget or one that you never want to revisit.

Every Sunday during Confession and Absolution I'm reminded of the fact that I'm a failure.  God demands that I keep His commandments.  But there isn't a day that goes by that I don't shatter all 10.  I don't always love God or my neighbors as much as I love myself. To be righteous before God, I need help, lots of help.

During this Christmas season, we celebrate the coming of God into the world in the form of the baby Jesus.  We marvel that God would leave the glories of heaven to join us in a world that does not work right, that is filled with sin.

As sweet as the Christmas story is, never lose sight of the fact that the coming of Jesus was our only hope of ever becoming righteous and acceptable before God.

I like how Jane Fryer put it: "He (Jesus) had to come to us; we could not go to Him.  The old covenant was flawed; we were.  We could not keep God's commandments.  We could not even want to do that."

So, the Christmas story is not only sweet but necessary.  We needed someone to come and lift up us failures.  We needed mercy.  God granted exactly what we needed in the babe of Bethlehem.

The apostle Paul wrote in Romans 3:22-24: There is no difference, for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.  

"All have sinned..." All have failed.

But God has mercy on failures like you and me:  When the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.

I know a few people who have sold things to pawn shops because of financial needs.  A couple of them, when money was more available, went back to the pawn shop to retrieve what they had given up.

Isn't is good to know that despite our failure to keep the Law, God did not give up on us.

Jesus "redeemed" us from the guilt we feel because of our failures.  He acted so that we did not have to be afraid of death and the punishment for sin that we would receive.  Jesus paid for our failures and sins at the cross.  Through His resurrection we, who put our faith in His, have been declared "not guilty." of all that would separate us from God forever.  That's Good News!

So, I confess my sins.  I am reminded that I have failed God and my neighbors.

But then comes the absolution, God's sweet words: "I forgive you!" My burden is lifted.  My sins have been covered by what I needed - Christ's righteousness.  A failure no more! Now, I'm free to live out my new life in Christ.  To place God first, my neighbors second and myself third.

2019 had its share of blessings and disappointments, just like every year.  But one thing hasn't changed.  Christmas is our reminder that God has mercy on failures. All the more reason to celebrate the birth of our newborn King, our Jesus.

Amen!