New Morning Mercies: A Daily Gospel Devotional

by Paul David Tripp

It’s what we all are. We’re all failures. Own it; it will be good for you. There is not a day in any of our lives when we don’t lay down empirical evidence that we are failures. Maybe it’s in an unkind word, an ugly thought, or an ungodly desire. Maybe it’s in a moment of selfish envy or unbridled greed. Maybe it’s in a moment of pride, when we have to be the center of attention or steal some of God’s glory. Perhaps it’s in acts of gluttony or in the desires of lust. Maybe it’s in an instance when our hearts are cold and lack sympathy for the poor or the suffering. Maybe it shows itself when we are jealous of the beauty or power of another. Perhaps it’s revealed when we surrender our hearts once again to some earthbound idol. Perhaps it shows itself when we take what is not ours to take or fail to give what we have been called to give. Somehow, some way, we all do it every day—we fall short of God’s righteous standard. We all fail to be what he has created and called us to be. Now, when confronted with your failure—and you will be if you’re at all humble and honest—you have only three choices. You can commit to be an evidence denier, working to convince yourself that you’re okay when you’re really not okay. You can comfort yourself with plausible arguments for your righteousness, giving ease to your conscience. Or, in the face of your failure, you can wallow in guilt and shame, beating yourself up because you did not do better and working hard to hide your failure from God...