Never Say Never
By
Susan Klein
“Blessed is the one
whose sin the Lord will never count against them.”
Romans
4:8 (NIV)
Have you ever proclaimed, “I will never _____again!” (Fill in the blank with the action or sin you
desired to never repeat.) Did it work, or did you do it again? Yeah, most of us
are repeat offenders at one time or another. Too often, I find myself making a
promise to someone (or to no one in particular) that I will never utter those ugly words or never repeat that offense again, only
to end up breaking my promise.
“Never” is a very dangerous word to use, especially when
issuing an apology to someone. Making promises we don’t end up keeping hurts
our future credibility, no matter how honorable our intentions might be. It can
also deeply wound the recipient. “I’m sorry, I promise I’ll never do that again,” might be better
phrased: “with God’s help, I will try not to _______ again.”
Or, how about, “I would never
think of doing _______!” Remember the Apostle Peter? He thought he’d never deny his Lord, but he did. Not
once. Not twice. Yep, three times. And the Lord even told him beforehand he’d
do it. (Good thing the “three strikes and you’re out” rule wasn’t implemented
by Jesus.) As much as we’d like to predict our future actions, most of us do not
possess prophetic abilities. In addition, sin is in our bloodline and is ever
at the ready to rear its ugly head. Scripture warns us to not think of
ourselves more highly than we ought (Romans
12:3). We all sin, and when tempted with the right circumstances, it’s
amazing what our flesh will succumb to. Praying for strength to resist
temptation is better than piously proclaiming: “I’d never…”
Not holding to a defeatist attitude, we do wield the power of
the Holy Spirit and His Word to conquer sin, which the Apostle Paul refers to
as a sword (Ephesians
6:10-18). That said, it’s never easy doing battle. It takes intentional
prayer and concentrated effort on our part to be consistently walking in the
Spirit rather than walking in the flesh. When we fall, we must get back up and
engage the Spirit’s help in standing firm. And, a healthy dose of confession
can release the soothing balm of forgiveness for our battle wounds. Thankfully,
our Lord has promised to never hold
our sins against us if we have a contrite heart and trust in Him.
Remember, the evil one delights in discrediting our testimony
by having us be promise breakers rather than promise keepers. Let’s choose our
words wisely, for they are linked to our future actions.
GOING DEEPER:
1.
What negative actions might you be repeating?
2. How might your words be impacting those you love?
FURTHER READING:
Susan is married to
Mark, and has two adult children. She enjoys teaching Bible studies, writing,
and tutoring with the Literacy Council. Susan is part of the Peacemaking Team
at Oakwood.
