Job 42:1-6
What was your life like as a kid?
Were you involved in sports, music, gymnastics, school?
When we started out, how good were we really?
Were we Sydney Crosby, or Mozart, or Einstein on day one?
Could we:
Play all the pieces
Make all the shots or passes
Know all the rules
Have the same knowledge as our teachers, coaches
Did we give up at the first sign of failure?
What were your coaches, teachers, parents like – patient, understanding, demanding, frustrating, rude, mean, loving, forgiving?
We all had different experiences, but few if any of us were naturals at what we did and therefore perfect.
How about our work life –
Were any of us the CEO on day one?
Did we know everything, or make all the right decisions?
Did you make mistakes, fail at things?
Do you still make mistakes? Need help? Have perfect information to make decisions?
When you are in tough do you struggle to get better? Strive to get your work done? Spend hours toiling to get results?
What about your Christian life:
- Were you perfect when you committed your life to Christ?
- Did you have all the answers?
- Did you overcome your sin immediately? Have you become sinless?
- Did you have, do you have good role models – people who encourage, guide, challenge, support you; or
- Do you have people around you who pull at you – tell you that you can’t make it; that you are failing; saying I told you so?
- Do you get frustrated with yourself when you fail? Do you feel you should be better? That your struggle with sin – whatever it may be – anger, pride, lust, coveting, gossip, bitterness…just doesn’t seem to end.
- Do you long for the day when you will overcome these struggles.
Let’s be honest with ourselves – none of us is perfect, none of us has it all together.
Let me start with myself, I am Dave James and I am a sinner and someone who fails – someone who struggles with pride and other sins.
