Have you ever felt like a failure?

Have you ever felt like you were a failure?
It isn’t much fun, is it?
Perhaps you worked extra hard on a project only to have it end with a very unsatisfactory result. All the plans and work were to no avail.
It doesn’t feel good, does it?
How do you feel about life in general?
If you were to be graded on what you have done up until now, what grade would you give yourself? A? B? C? D? E? or F? Please don’t say that it would be F-.
I have some good news for you.
God specializes in taking failures and making them successes. That may sound beyond belief to you, but it is true.
The Bible says, “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” That means that every one of us is a failure. If it is left up to us, we won’t make it to heaven, and I suggest to you that everyone who does not make it to heaven is a failure. That is the acid test. It doesn’t matter what grade you get, it is a failure. You may have said that you are an “A.” "A" in life is a failure as far as getting into heaven is concerned.
The important thing to understand is that the only way a person can get into heaven is to go God’s way. That is reasonable since it is His heaven. He has every right to say that no one can come any way but the way he has designed.
Well, you may say, “What is God’s way to get into heaven?” I’m glad you asked.
God has really made this simple. His Son, Jesus Christ, came to this earth with the express purpose of establishing the way to heaven. He lived a perfect life that qualified Him to die a sacrificial death for all men. He did just that. When He died He bore the sin of the world. God then says that the only thing that we have to do is accept His sacrifice as ours. We do that by believing that Jesus took our place on the cross, and that when He died, a transfer took place. His righteousness became ours and as far as God was concerned, He no longer sees our sin blocking the way to heaven, but He sees Christ’s righteousness.
This means that you don’t have to die a failure, but a victor. You can know that your sins are forgiven, that you can live a life of holiness down here, and that you have then become eligible to enter God’s heaven. You can know that this has taken place and that when you die, you will enter God’s home for eternity. You need never feel like a failure again.
If that isn’t good news then I don’t know what is. There are no failures in heaven. There may be martyrs and saints, but there are no failures. How would you like to be a saint today? You can be. All you have to do is believe.

Ten Minutes After Death

Ten Minutes After death---

Wow! This is not the time to find out whether or not you did the right thing when you were living.
The Potentials===
1. You were right. There is nothing after death so you are dead and don’t know anything.
2. You were wrong. There is life after death and you:
Have entered heaven because you trusted Christ who promised you eternal life and now you see what it is all about. or
Have not entered heaven and find yourself in Hell where it is very very hot and there is no escape from it.
It would be tragic to find out that there really is a life after death and you did not plan for it. God has made provision for every person to come to Him in faith. Jesus died so that you could have life.
Don’t you think that you should at least study what the Bible says that God has provided. It is only arrogance that makes a person think that he/she knows better than God. Look around you. Do you really think that all the intricacies of this planet could possibly just happen by chance. I know some mighty smart people think that. I also know that some very smart people don’t think that.
The human body alone should make a person say, “There has to be a God.” This finely tuned machine works because it has a design that makes it work. What do you think the chances that this is just by chance is really so? The perfectly balanced air that we breath keeps us alive.
There are so many fantastic examples of God’s care in the universe. Dr. Hall in his book THE HIDDEN DIMENSION, tells the story of the stickleback crab that lives on the bottom of the ocean. When it is time for new stickleback crabs to be conceived, the male goes through 14 steps before the process is complete. Alas, there are times when there is not enough food on the bottom of the ocean so guess what! Seven of those fourteen steps do not take place and there are no new stickleback crabs. You might say that this is just by chance, but when that sort of thing is repeated over and over it is not just by chance. Something has been built into those little creatures that makes them aware of what is happening when there is no basis for that knowledge to be theirs.
You may look at it any way that you want. I prefer to think that a wise and loving God puts into the awareness of what may seem like an insignificant creature the ability to balance life for the future good of his family of crabs. If he can make them that aware, what is it that keeps man from understanding this loving God and trying to substitute inadequate human reasoning for God’s perfect design.

George

George and Pat Moodly were Indian South Africans. They lived in the Indian community and when we first met them they were in a very, very small house that was built in the Indian community during apartheid. Although much of what we know about apartheid has to do with the black community, the leaders had separated the Indians and colored as well as the blacks. They lived in three separate communities.
We stayed with George and Pat in their home for a good part of a week back in 2001. We talked together, ate curry, talked some more, ate more curry, and just had a delightful time with them. We became very close and remained close until this year.
George finished his earthly life a few weeks ago and even though I am in the States and he was in South Africa, I miss him. He was an unusual person. He loved his Lord. He loved the people in the Reservoir Hills Baptist Church that he had started. He love his wife and family. He had a great spirit and was a faithful worker for the Lord.
I am sorry that you did not know George. He was a good person to know because he had that great spirit. He would have liked you because he liked everybody. You would have liked him because he was so easy to like. George was more humble than most people are. If you don’t know the Lord, it would be a good time for you to come to the Lord and trust Him as your Savior, and then tell the Lord that you would like to be like George. God can do that for you.