Two vital Truths To Keep in Mind.

     There are two vital truths we need to keep in min in order to go forward without giving up:
     1.  God's empowering grace is able to keep us from falling into sin.
     2.  His pardoning grace is unceasingly extended to cover our unseen defects and to lift us up when we fall.
     Both are brought to view by the apostle John:
     "My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not.  And if any man in we have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous" 1 John 2:1.
     It is the Lord's ultimate purpose that we sin not but if we do sin, Jesus stands as our Advocate before the Father.  He claims us as His redeemed children when we walk and when we fall.
    Here John speaks of a specific act of sin as an interruption to the general course of the believer's life.  The beloved apostle says, in essence, "These things I write to you that you would not practice sin as a way of life.  But if you do sin in a moment of haste or weakness, remember that you have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteousOne."
     John is not trying to give assurance of ongoing salvation to one who would turn to a course of willful rebellion against God.  Rather, he is encouraging those who do continue in Christ that if they fall and yet rise in repentance, Jesus continues to present them as perfect before the Father.  Such failures do not separate the believer from God.
     There is only one way the believer can forfeit his standing in Christ.  He must return to his former life of sin and cease to trust in the Savior.  He must cherish sin in his heart.  This  is what the Bible means when it says, "Your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear"  Isaiah 59:2.  Isaiah is not here referring to the defects of character or the occasional mistakes of the one who walks with God.  Only  a willful course of intentional sin can sever the relationship that exists between the believer and his Redeemer.  Even then, the separation is the choice of the sinner and not of the Savior; and the One who died to save us stands eager and willing to renew the relationship.  "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return  unto the Lord; and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon"  Isaiah 55:7.
     Never confuse the willful sin of one who has turned from the Lord with the failures and defects of the believer in Christ.  As a born-again child of God you can be certain of His power to keep you from sin and you can be assured that He does not cast you away if you fall.  Be careful to keep both His power and His pardon in mind. If you emphasize one to the minimizing of the other, you may end up in self-righteousness on the one hand or in despair on the other.

     (We need to live a balanced Spiritual life, don't we?  Keeping our eyes fixed upon Jesus, He has the power to keep us all the way to the Kingdom.  Grandma Joan)