Lamentations 3:22 (NIV84)
22 Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.
I recently had to do some repair work on our refrigerator. Well, at least I tried. The water line wasn’t putting out any water. Since I’m not a refrigerator repairman, I did what everyone does these days. I Googled it. The easiest diagnostic test suggested was to check if the water line was frozen. So lying at the bottom of the fridge I found the water line and connection to pop open. But with only an inch of clearance and possibly quite a bit of water in the line waiting to come flowing out if it wasn’t frozen, I was concerned about leaking water all over my floor and me. As suggested, I pulled the connection back only slightly. Water immediately started to leak out and I pushed it back together. Then I pushed harder. But there was no click. I had tried one little thing, and now if I failed to get that part back together I would know it with water all over my floor. But since there wasn’t a puddle I figured I must have got it back together okay.
Often times when we do something sinful we get immediate feedback about our failure. When we say something back to a teacher with disrespect we get disciplined. If we say something insensitive to our spouse they give us the cold shoulder. Sinful failures bring about actions from other people that often let us know we’ve done something sinful. As often as that happens it would seem that we’re always in trouble. Even when we’re being careful we can be sinning in our minds. We might not say what we really want to, but that doesn’t make it less sinful.
Beyond the immediate feedback we get from others, God could give us his feedback. He has every right to punish us for every sin we commit. Failure should lead to total destruction. We deserve to be consumed for the sins we commit. That kind of immediate feedback would get our attention and cause us to not last long.
Except, that’s not what you face. You are not consumed for your failures. There’s only one reason why. The Lord’s great love. His love is more than just a good feeling towards you. His love means action. You are not consumed because Jesus was consumed. Hanging on the cross, Jesus was facing the wrath of God. Sin was being punished. Jesus faced it instead of you. He faced the wrath of God. He died. That was God’s great love for you. His Son dying in your place. The innocent one for the guilty. Fixing your failures.
You don’t have to wonder, were those failures really fixed? You have immediate feedback. Listening to the Word of God, remembering your baptism, participating in the Lord’s Supper. God’s grace is given to you. The Lord’s great love doesn’t fail. His compassion for you in Christ doesn’t fail. Your failures are all fixed.
PRAYER: Jesus, you are God’s great love in action. Thank you for not failing. Thank you for fixing my failures and forgiving my sins. Because of you, I can be confident that the Lord’s great love is for me. Lord, help me live in the reality of my failures being fixed in Christ. Amen.