“Come boldly to the throne of grace” Hebrews 4:16

Perhaps you can relate to a conversation I’ve had with myself more than I care to admit: “Wow, I really messed up. I can’t believe I messed up. Come on Jim, that was a rookie mistake if I ever saw one! I expect more from you. Get it together turn it around already. Haven’t you learned anything?”

Sound All Too Familiar?

No matter how young or how old we are, we seem intent on beating ourselves up over our miscues in life. For everything from outright sin to simply having hurt a neighbor, friend or loved one, we wallow endlessly in an internal self-defeating conversation. Then we come to Hebrews 4:16 which says, “Come boldly to the throne of grace that we might obtain mercy!” Amazingly that’s actually possible because of the preceding verse “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weakness, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin”. In other words, Jesus knows what we are going through as human beings every minute of every day. He knows our mistakes, our temptation, our pain, our sorrow, our suffering, and yes our joy. The great hope we have is that because Jesus knows us so well, and knows what we are like even at our worst, yet He still chose to go to the cross to forgive each and every one of us. Let today be your liberation day from a never ending cycle of internal self-defeating conversations. Bring your screw ups to Jesus, no matter how big or how small. Complete restoration is only a prayer away.