Guilt, Peace, Words of Endurance

If we have only the will to walk then God is pleased with our stumbles.
CS LEWIS

I had always been a perfectionist – expecting perfection mostly from myself – especially in my walk with God. Every time I would stumble I would experience such guilt that I would want to run and hide from God. I could not fathom the truth of the above CS Lewis quote.

BUT then I recalled …

When my children were small, I remember the excitement of their first steps. I met each wobbly lurch forward with enthusiastic hurrahs and hugs. They went from heavily padded bottoms to reinforced knees – shock absorbers for their anticipated tumbles and tears.

I expected them to fall, to cry. I knew they were learning and delighted in each stage of their progress. That is what parents do. It is effortless to love our children – to nurture them – to delight in their growth. And when they fall we want them to run to us not from us.

We quickly forget that God is our Father who, like our earthly parents, loves us passionately. He delights in our growth. He knows we are learning. He expects bruised knees and hearts along the way.

He doesn’t want guilt over our occasional tumbles to paralyze us in fear of His response. He does not want us to run from Him but to run to Him. Our Heavenly Father wants us to brush off the dust, grab His strong hand and keep walking with Him.

The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. Though they stumble, they will never fall, for the Lord holds them by the hand.
PSALM 37:23-24 (NLT)

True victory over guilt comes when we see ourselves as God views us – as children who are learning to walk the uneven emotional and spiritual road of life, children whose Heavenly Daddy spared no expense to walk beside them.

And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully.
EPHESIANS 3:18-19

On the journey with you,
Dave Dravecky