Q&A: Messing Up

Q:  How many times can I mess up before God doesn’t forgive me anymore?

A:  A lot of teens struggle with this question.  We get caught in the exhausting cycle of doing something wrong, feeling guilty about it, and hoping that God will forgive us just one more time.  We worry that the next time we mess up, God will shout down at us from heaven in a scary, booming voice, “That’s it!  You’ve exceeded your limit of how many times I will forgive you.  Sorry, but you don’t get to go to heaven now.” 

Here’s the good news: No matter how many times you mess up, God will always, always forgive you whole-heartedly if you repent.  The Bible says in Numbers 14:18, “The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion.”  You know what that means?  That means we can live without the fear of never being good enough!

Now, just because Jesus forgives our sins does not mean we can just go around intentionally sinning, then asking God to forgive us.  You know what I’m talking about:

“I know my mom said not to use her special Glazed Berry lipstick anymore, but I’ll just put a few coats on and ask God to forgive me for disobeying.”  No!  That would be abusing God’s grace.  Romans 6:1-2 says, “What shall we say, then?  Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?  By no means!  We died to sin, how can we live in it any longer?”

If you do sin, however (and we will, no matter how hard we try to be good), confess it to the Lord, repent, and try to never do it again.  God knows your heart.  If you continually try to love and obey him, he will always welcome you into his grace with open arms.

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