It happens sometimes?

 

I had a student one year who would say that to me.

She would say it if she made a mistake on her work.

If a friend did something they weren’t supposed to.

 

It happens sometimes?

Always said as a question, never as a statement.

 

A question that would be repeated if left unanswered.

A question that required me to stop in that moment and remember grace.

Yes, I would answer. It happens sometimes. Everyone makes mistakes.

What matters is that we try our best.

 

Or sometimes it was more like…

 

Yes, it happens. But now that it has happened, let’s do better next time.

 

How many times in life have I needed to remind myself of this.

That I am only human and it happens.

 

How could I have done that? 

Why did I say those awful things?

How could I let that person down?

Why did I handle the situation like that?

How did I mess up something so important?

Friends, it happens.

That’s not an excuse and I know it doesn’t fix everything.

 

But it happens because we are only human and far from perfect.

 

What’s amazing is that we serve a perfect God.

A perfect God full of grace.

 

Rather than getting the punishment we deserve for our mistakes and sins,

the punishment has been taken for us.

 

God sent His one and only son to die on the cross for our sins.

And whoever believes will spend forever with Him in heaven.

 

Have you ever heard of such a selfless sacrifice?

 

All for you.

And for me.

 

Yes, we mess up. We make mistakes. 

Time and time again, it happens.

 

But thank you, Jesus, for the grace I don’t deserve and could never earn.

 

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son,

that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

-John 3:16