By Rachel Loe, February 19, 2024

“For all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God.” (Galatians 3:23 ESV). Light topic this week [read dripping with sarcasm]. The reality of our lives is that we will fall. The verse is not “have fallen” as in past tense, but “and fall” as in present and future tense. We will continue to fall short. But there is hope in our failure, which is what I will write about in the next series. This week, we will cover our response to the Lord, and next week, we will go through the next steps with our fellow man. “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you have been saved” (Ephesians 2:4-5 ESV). 

Scripture is filled with men and women described as pillars of faith. We see in Hebrews 11 what is known as the “Hall of Faith,” yet as we take a deeper look into these people that God so used and has called faithful, we see lives tarnished by sin and failure. Scripture does a wonderful job of painting every “hero” in a broken light, except for Christ. They fell in spectacular fashion even after becoming a new creation in Christ. We see murder, deception, denial, and adultery, all from these people that we are told have loved the Lord with a faith unsurpassed. This points us to not trust in our own strength because we have none apart from God but to rely wholly on Him and His mercy. 

So, this is a blog about work and jobs; how does this topic relate? Well, we feel this failure often, not only in our personal lives but in our professional lives. So, what do we do when we fail in our walk with the Lord in an area visible to our peers and workplaces? What do we do when striving to be a witness for the Lord to our coworkers and we believe a lie the enemy has told us and do not trust in the Lord? How do we recover when we lie to a client to get ahead and are found out? When we gossip to a coworker and tarnish someone else’s name? When we are lazy in our work and miss major deadlines?  When we get drunk at a work function and act out or go home with someone? How do we move forward? 

Remember that we, first and foremost, have sinned against God and require His forgiveness. King David wrote Psalm 51 after He was called out by the prophet Nathan for his sin of taking Uriah’s wife, Bathsheba, to bed and then murdering Uriah to cover it up. David’s first reaction is to fall at the feet of the Lord who created him. Verse 4 says, “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight.” David knows that while he sinned against many people, the foremost offense was against the only Holy God. He turns in repentance and broken heartedness, not because his sin was found out, but because he was broken over the sin that separates us from the Lord of Light. The hope that is found in Psalm 51 is in verse 17-

“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” 

Our Lord loves us. Not for what we have done, because that is not worthy of Him, but because of His greatness. He convicts those He loves and does not condemn them: “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1 ESV). Condemnation produces hopelessness and despair. But conviction is meant to return us to the Lord and produce repentance and hope in the One who loves us. “My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline or be weary of his reproof, for the Lord reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights” (Proverbs 3:11-12 ESV). 

So when you fail in your witness at work, turn first to the Lord in repentance and rest in the hope that our worth and value are determined by His love for us, not our ability to uphold righteousness.