To say that Jesus entrusted the Great Commission to his disciples is to say that he entrusted it to sinners. When Jesus told his disciples “I will be with you” it wasn’t because he wanted them to get cocky about his gracious, continued presence; it was because he knew that they were going to mess up and they would surely be in need of his unflagging friendship and inexhaustible forgiveness.
We will never be able to live the eternal kind of life that Jesus talks about until we learn to face head-on our need for mercy each and every day. We will never move beyond “mere forgiveness” until we see that we are in need of forgiveness each and every day.
Everyone is bound to mess up. I do--lots. When that happens the best response one can ever make is to admit it and ask forgiveness, full stop.
So, when you mess up (not “if”, but “when"!), learn to say, “Dude, I messed up royally. I was arrogant. I abused my power. I lied. I was a sham. I was ungracious. Forgive me, please.” Full stop. No excuses.
The biggest mistake we make is when we fail to see we’re mistaken and wrong. The greatest wrong you could ever do yourself is to think you’re ever going to get to a point where you “get it all right”, because this is like saying you can get your life to a point where you don’t need grace anymore, where you’ve put a final end to being just a daily sinner in need of daily mercy.
If you haven’t sought forgiveness in a while, then something’s probably wrong. Do it soon, for your own soul’s sake.
Learn to be “the forgiven one” and make your peace with that. It'll be the best thing you ever do.
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