When I Keep Making the Same Mistake

Devotional

You know when you erase the same spot so many times the paper rips?

You sit there looking at the hole thinking, great, now it's worse than when I started.

That's what it feels like to keep messing up the same way.

You promised yourself you'd stop. You actually meant it. And then you did it again. Maybe today. Maybe twice today.

Here's something that might surprise you.

Paul wrote a huge chunk of the New Testament. And here's what he said about himself:

"For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing."

That's Paul. Saying he can't get himself to do the right thing either.

He wasn't making an excuse. He was being honest. Even people who really love God find out that sin hangs on tight.

So what do you do when it happens again?

Maybe you figure God's keeping a list. Maybe you think there's a number, and one of these days you'll hit it and he'll say that's enough.

Here's what the Bible actually says:

"He does not deal with us according to our sins... as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us."

Think about that. How far is east from west?

You could go east forever and never get to west. They never meet. That's how far he moved it.

And it's not a one-time offer. Listen to this one:

"His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning."

New every morning. Which means when you wake up tomorrow and remember today, God's mercy is already up. It's already there waiting for you before you even open your eyes.

Now, that doesn't mean it doesn't matter. It matters a lot. It cost Jesus his life. He took the punishment for our sin on the cross, and what he did was enough to cover every single time, including the ones that keep repeating.

And here's one more thing.

God isn't just forgiving you and leaving you exactly the same.

"He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion."

He started something in you and he's going to finish it. It might be slow. You might fall down ten more times this month.

But he's not going to quit halfway.

Micah said it like this: "When I fall, I shall rise."

Not if. When.

You're going to fall. And you're going to get back up. Not because you're strong enough to pull yourself up.

Because his mercy shows up at the bottom every single time.

So don't quit. Don't believe the lie that you've used up your chances.

He hasn't run out.

He never will.