What Does God Think About US When We Stumble As Believers?

What does God think about us when we stumble and fall as Christians? What does He think about us when our humanity gets the best of us? I will answer those questions with another question. What do parents think about a young child who stumbles and falls when learning to walk? Instead of throwing them out the door, any decent parent will help their child up and encourage them to keep trying. Eventually they learn to walk.

I'm very glad God doesn't require perfection or flawlessness from us in order to be accepted by Him. There will be times when the imperfection of our fallen nature will cause us to stumble or just simply struggle with things. The enemy's ploy is to condemn us. Add to that, our own self-condemnation due to the fact that we struggle with actions and feelings that we know are wrong. How does God see us in those struggles? How does He view our failures of sort?

According to the Bible, God sees those who are born again as His sons and daughters. He sees us through the blood of His Son Jesus. Jesus was sent by the Father to bear our sins, and through His blood make us blameless before the Father. When God looks upon the born again believer, He sees the righteousness of His own son. My oh my, that is good news! Jesus was the only One qualified to bear the sins of mankind. How is that? In Luke chapter one, the story is told of the angel Gabriel's visited to the Virgin Mary.

"Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. And coming in, he said to her, "Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you." But she was very perplexed at this statement, and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was. The angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God." (Luke 1: 26-30)

Gabriel proceeded to tell Mary that three things were about to happen to her. 1.) She would get pregnant. 2.) She would have a son. 3.) She would name Him Jesus (Jehovah, who saves). Gabriel went on to say that He would be great, would be referred to as the Son of the Most High God, and that God would seat Him on the throne of David, His father. I am always intrigued with Mary's question. "How can this be since I am a virgin?" "The Holy Spirit will come upon you", Gabriel said, "and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. And for that reason, the holy child will be called the Son of God!" (See Luke 1:34-35)

Gabriel told the Virgin Mary that this child would be conceived in her, not by the seed of man, but by the Holy Spirit. He would literally be born of God, through a virgin. He would be born of the Spirit, not the flesh. He would be born from above, not from the earth. He was unique in all of His existence! He would be the only human, born from His mother's womb with no sin nature. Hence He would be qualified to take upon Himself all the sins of the world, and break its power over you and me. He was truly the spotless Lamb of God, who has now taken away the sins of the world!

Because of who He was and is, we become the righteousness of God, in Him, when we receive Him. "He (God) made Him (Jesus) who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." (2 Corinthians 5:21) All truly born again believers are "the righteousness of God in Jesus." What good news! This is the gospel.

Being the righteousness of God in Jesus does not give any born again believer a license to sin. But there are times when we struggle with sin, and sometimes we stumble and fall. That's when we simply get back up, no matter how much condemnation comes against us from the enemy or from ourselves. We keep walking with Jesus. We stay in the race and focus on the finish line. God's goal for you and me is that we finish the race. This is how we complete our God-ordained destiny. This is the only way!

If you're battling condemnation because you know you haven't walked perfectly before God as a Christian, know that in His eyes, you are righteous. Jesus made you that way. This is something you must learn and know from God's Word. This is what you stand on in order to get back up and continue the race. This is how people are used by God in mighty ways. Not because they are super spiritual people, but because they understand who they are in Christ Jesus. This is where they find the strength to carry on, even after they have stumbled and fallen. You are the righteousness of God, in Jesus! It's a done deal!