"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
— Romans 5:8
While we were still sinners.
Not after we cleaned ourselves up. Not after we got it together. Not after we stopped doing the thing we said we'd stop doing. While we were still sinners. That's when He came. That's when He chose us. That's when He decided we were worth dying for.
I need somebody to really sit with that today.
Because I know there are people reading this who are carrying something heavy right now. A mistake you can't stop thinking about. A version of yourself you're not proud of. A season where you walked away from God and you're not sure He still wants you back. A voice in your head that keeps telling you that you've gone too far this time.
That voice is lying to you.
Peter denied Jesus three times. Three times he looked someone in the eye and said I don't know that man. This is the same Peter who had walked on water with Him. The same Peter who said you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. And when the pressure came, he fell apart completely.
And Jesus still chose him to build His church on.
Paul spent years hunting down Christians and having them imprisoned. He watched Stephen get stoned to death and approved of it. By every human measure he was the last person who deserved a second chance.
And Jesus met him on a road to Damascus and changed his entire life.
Nobody in scripture who came to God in brokenness was turned away. Not one.
The enemy wants you to believe that your failure is bigger than God's grace. That's the lie. That's always been the lie. Because if he can convince you that you've gone too far, he can keep you from the one thing that would actually set you free.
Grace is not something you earn back after you fail. Grace is what was already waiting for you when you fell. It was there before you made the mistake and it's still there now on the other side of it. You didn't use it up. You can't use it up.
The cross was enough. It was always enough.
So if you've been sitting in shame, thinking you need to get yourself right before you can come back to God — stop. Come as you are. Come broken. Come with the mistake still fresh. Come with the doubt still loud. Come exactly as you are right now because that's exactly who He died for.
You haven't failed God. You've just forgotten how big His grace is.
— Austin, Founder of TheRisenKing