What makes you cringe?

I’ve been following the Olympics pretty religiously over the past week. I find myself coming home from work, plopping myself on the couch, and rooting the Olympians on as they do their thing. I love listening to the cheesy back stories they do on the athletes minutes before they’re about to race…being reminded over and over again of all the years of training coming down to this one moment. The bell rings, the race starts, the athlete begins to cruise along beautifully…and then it happens: a fall, a simple misstep that leads to a horrible crash. And what do I do?

I cringe.
I cringe at their pain.
I cringe at the disappointment they must feel in themselves.

Do you ever find yourself cruising through life and then taking a misstep? Are there moments in your life you look back on and just cringe? Do you have flashbacks to your past and think “Oh God, What the heck was I thinking?”

No matter how smart or logical you think you are, no matter how much you’ve “trained” yourself to act and be a certain way, there are those moments where your words and deeds don’t match the perceived reality of yourself.

Here is the reality: We are all sinners.

I am a sinner.

Let me say that again……I am a sinner.

Here’s the catch, the beauty I really see in that statement:

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. -2 Corinthians 12: 9

I’m glad I look back on moments in my life and wince, because I know the Lord is convicting me. He’s convicting me of my weaknesses, of the fact that I am a sinner and even more of my need for His grace. His grace reconciles me, not my works or lack thereof, but His grace, that’s it, that’s all. I would be more concerned if I didn’t feel the weight of my sins, not as a burden to bear, but as a reminder that He needs to be ever present for any hope of transformation. It’s not enough to know his Word, for even the devil could spit out the Lord’s words in verbatim…the Word has to penetrate, penetrate enough to cause change.

So unlike those athletes whose careers may be over after one horrible fall, our lives don’t have to be defined by our missteps. In fact the harder we “fall”, the greater the conviction that nothing can save us except for Christ…

Because Christ’s grace is sufficient…

Christ’s grace is sufficient for me….

Anytime I look back and cringe, I need to remember…

Christ’s grace is sufficient.