“And I love Jesus but I fail him daily.” - Kate Walder
I love this quote. Not only because it is so true to me, but also because it is completely ok. Failing Jesus is a normal occurrence. It happens constantly. Lately I have been failing Jesus more than I should, but I understand that he loves me no matter what I do. It is hard to avoid all the temptations that lead us to sin. Especially in college, our world is full of them and it is also full of people who push us towards them.
The people you surround yourself with should love you during your failures and help you get to where you need to be. They should support you in your striving to get to Jesus. If not, God will remove them from your life and replace them with people who will. While some people are put in your life to be good influences, others are put there to show you what not to do. Some bad times and bad people are there to wake you up, make you hit rock bottom, to show you just how much you need Jesus. They are there to make you run to him. And every time you do, no matter how often, he will welcome you with open arms.
I am by no means saying that I have it all figured out. It is so much easier said than done. I am not done failing Jesus. I do it every day. And that is ok. We are not meant to be perfect. Jesus knows we fail and loves us anyways. We have to remember that Jesus surrounded himself with prostitutes, tax collectors and sinners. This was not to encourage their behavior, but to save them from it.
Struggling with your faith is a normal thing. It means you are growing and moving towards Christ even if you don't feel that way. We have a SAVIOR. That means we have all been SAVED. We all sin. So there is no room for righteousness or snobbiness because we all fail Jesus more than we should. Otherwise, why would we need Jesus so badly? The bible says that Jesus is like a doctor to the sick, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Mark 2:17. So it is necessary for us to be sick sometimes in order for Jesus to heal us. How else would we grow?
On the opposite end, if you are not struggling with your faith at all, it is ok to feel good about where you are in your relationship with God, but don't put others down because they aren’t where you are. Lift others up, support others, help them grow in their faith and help them realize that it is ok to fail Jesus.
