its a process

Do you ever feel as if you're stuck in the same place spiritually? Like you're committing the same sins over and over, and no matter how hard you try, you can't seem to learn that lesson God is trying to teach you?

Lately I have been SO frustrated and confused about why I continuously commit the same sins over and over.  I've prayed the same prayers for forgiveness and confessed to other believers, and sometimes I think that God has probably been getting sick of me about it. 

But here's the amazing thing - He's not. It's impossible for me to wrap my mind around, because who wouldn't be frustrated with an incompetent person, repeating the same mistakes over and over?

God never gets tired of us.  He knows our weaknesses and failures.  He created us this way - Psalm 103 proves this and says "As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.  For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust." (103:13-14).

There is grace for the ways we fail. 

I was reading something by Beth Moore and it totally comforted me in my frustration over my own sin.  She was sharing the way she adores her grandson and pays attention to his every move.  She knows when he first slept through the night, when he rolled over from his stomach to his back, and when we smiled for the first time.  She cherishes every moment of his growing process, and relates it to our relationship with God this way:

"I don't sit over Jackson impatiently and wish he were suddenly grown.  I celebrate every step he takes.  Why do we think our Heavenly Father, who designed our bodies, souls, and spirits to operate just as they do, would be any different? No, God doesn't enjoy any child's stubborn unwillingness to grow up any more than I'd enjoy Jackson still crawling at six years of age.  But I'm convinced God thoroughly relishes every hint of maturity even if we feel as if we're not making progress."

I love that analogy to watching a baby grow.  You never want to rush the process, and you don't get frustrated when a baby can't do things adults can do.  That's exactly how God views us.  He watches over us and enjoys the small ways we grow, and understands when we stumble. He celebrates every step we take - even the baby steps. 

He doesn't expect our first steps to be perfect.  Or our second. Or our third.  But in every step we take, God rejoices for us.

God is with us in our struggles with sin, and when we commit the same sins again and again, He will never condemn us for them.  Romans 8:1 says "There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."

If there's anything that I've learned this year, its that our relationship with God is a process, and He understands when we stumble from time to time.  He gets it when we can't seem to fully conquer a sin and have to struggle through it. 

But there's another part of this process we need to be aware of.  We always need to be striving for growth - whether we are failing over again and again or learning and succeeding quickly.  We can't settle where we are and apathetically expect God to be happy with us.  We can't become careless about our sins, and cheaply accept the grace of God without understanding how much it cost Him.  We need to draw near to God, pushing forward through the stumbling and failures, so that we're not taking advantage of that grace.

Our growth and maturity in God is a process.  We aren't going to be perfect, or even come close to that.

There's grace for our repeated sins and constant failures.  He doesn't give up on me, and He understands that I am dust.  Praise God.

more than you can handle

Christians use a lot of funny cliches.  One of my favorites and probably the most popular is "God never gives you more than you can handle." 

But I don't think that's true.

I think that God always gives you more than you can handle.

If we were only given what we are able to handle, we wouldn't need to turn to God for anything.  We wouldn't need His help because we'd be able to do things by ourselves. 

But that's not what God intends for us. 

I've found that the times I'm the closest to God are the times that I'm struggling the most.  I turn to God when I'm most desperate, and I seek Him more because I need Him more. But when things are going fine and I don't need God to help me with big things, I don't think of Him as much.

Since God loves to have relationships with us, wouldn't it make sense that He put challenges in our lives to make us depend on Him? God wants us to know Him, so I think He allows trials bigger than we can handle so that we would ask Him for help.

God wants us to rely in Him.  That's why Jesus said, "Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."  He wants us to trust in Him because He cares so much for us. 

He knows us and He understands our weaknesses: "For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust" (Psalm 103:13).  So why do we try to hold onto cliches like "God doesn't give your more than you can handle" instead of just admitting that we don't have it all together?

Because we don't like admitting that we can't handle it. We want to be strong, independent, and capable of handling any challenge that is thrown at us.  We don't like to appear weak, or worse, admitting we are weak. 

But that's the paradox about God. I think that God gives us more than we can handle because that's the only way He gets our attention.  When we have too much on our plate, we have to pass it on to someone else.  God wants to be that help!  

Paul got it right when he said "I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me" (2 Corinthians 12:9). 

He wants us to come running to Him, admitting we are weak, and that we don't have it all together.  He doesn't want us to rely on ourselves to handle it all.  That's why He gives us more than we can handle - we weren't meant to handle our troubles without Him. And He loves when we let Him take care of it all.

He gives us more than we can handle, so we can let Him handle it.