Mistakes, part 14 of 14

14. It’s possible to run away for our entire lives.

God is love. He loves us. He may know what’s best, but He will not force us. We all have a choice. We can always run. We can always be consumed by sin, or be buried in excuses. We can always ignore what He created us for.

Consider Felix. Felix was a Roman governor who Paul appeared before one of the many times he was arrested. In chapter 24 of Acts Paul told Felix about his faith in Christ. Felix could hear the truth in his words, but was afraid. He responded to Him in verse 25, and said, “Go away for now; when I have a convenient time I will call for you.”

This is the exact same thing many of us say to God when we feel His calling. We have excuses, we have sins we don’t want to let go of, we have insecurities that paralyze us, we have patterns of life we’re comfortable with, and so many other things that make it inconvenient for us to follow the Lord down the appointed path. We ignore Him, and put Him off until it’s convenient. Many of us do this knowing a convenient time may never come, but we don’t care. We’re scared. We want to run away. We continuously run away.

God can work hard to take away our excuses, and he can put countless big fish in our lives. We can constantly turn a blind eye. We can always refuse to admit the truth to ourselves. Even if we do admit the truth we can continue to do nothing about it. God will not force us to do the right thing. We can keep running. We can miss out on the amazing things God has in store for us. We can spend our lives refusing Him.

I learned all this because of the huge mistake I made of ignoring God’s calling for me for too many years. I know I could have kept ignoring Him. A big part of me really wanted to. I know I could have kept running. I know I ignored the truth for too long. I know God used my mistake for His good. I now know who I am, and I thank God for never giving up on me.

I pray my mistakes can be used as a ministry to others. I pray others can learn the joy that comes when you admit your mistake, and step onto the right path. God performed a miracle on my behalf. I know He can do the same for everyone.