Some days I just get sick and tired of stumbling.  I get frustrated with myself for losing my temper, overlooking someone’s feelings, or not being the sharpest tool in the shed.  Some days, I feel like quiting everything.

Do you ever feel that way?

Do you ever look at your life and think, “God could never use someone like me.”  Do you ever feel like a spiritual failure?

How we answer this question can have significant impact on effective ministry. By ministry, I mean whatever God is calling you to do. Because if you do feel like a spiritual failure, my guess is at some point you stop trying.  Because, after all, what’s the use?  You know you are just going to stumble again.

What if God doesn’t see your “stumbles” the same way?  What if God looks at your life without your highest victories and lowest drops? Kind of like a teacher who allows you to drop your lowest grade.  What if God is looking more at the pattern of growth in your life?

He certainly did this for the heroes of our faith. Consider Abraham.  God promised to give a child to Abraham and Sarah.  Yet there were 25 childless years before God fulfilled the promise.   Was Abraham perfect during those years?   If you read Romans 2, you would think so:

“Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, ‘So shall your offspring be.’ Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.” Read More→