I think it's safe to say that we all love sleep. Maybe it's the brief escape from reality, maybe it's how it feels just so darn comfy, maybe it's the temporary respite from our troubles and cares, whatever the reason sleep holds a special place in the hearts of most people.
I like it too, although I tend to go to bed late and wake up earlier than necessary. The problem with sleep though is that we get nothing done and we are apart from reality for a time and anything that ultimately matters. Sleep is nice but it is not substantive, it is pleasant but not productive.
Why do I bring this up? Because the world is slipping between the warm cozy blankets of willful ignorance and "tolerance", and it's bringing the church with it. It's nice to banish the difficult and uncomfortable affairs of life for a few hours each night but disastrous when we refuse to take on the hard challenges during our waking hours.
I'm reminded of a particular scripture passage, Romans 13:11-14, where Paul warns the Roman church that the time for comfortable slumber is past and now is the time to stand and go to war.
"And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts."
(Romans 13:11-14)
Look at the words above! The day is coming, the night is spent! Walk now as one who is awake, not letting your mind and your will dissipate like a drunkard or one lost in their lusts! We must "put on" Jesus Christ and forsake sin not allow for it. We have to shed our old moldy robes and put on the armor of light.
We've gotten comfortable, with sin, with dissent, with lies, with misinformation. We've gotten comfy and lazy and, well, cowardly. The Bible calls us to stand firm. It calls us to stand against armies, against ideas, against enemies; nowhere does it call us to lounge comfortably.
We are running out of time, there are precious few moments left to sit on the sidelines or worry about hurting someones feelings. Now this doesn't mean that we don't act in love, it doesn't mean that we don't care for others it just means that their opinions don't really matter, their feelings don't ultimately matter. What matters is the truth and nothing more.
We see people everywhere who call themselves Christians accepting sin and teaching things that just aren't true. The Bible is compromised and God's truth is doubted or at worst ignored. We as a people are more willing to accept sin than we are to stand for God!
There comes a time when understanding has really understand and when love has to be harsh. There comes a time when to be right means to be decisive and to stand for truth means telling someone else that they are wrong!
So wake up, rise up, stand up and let the truth be your armor, let God be your general and get ready to march. It's going to be uncomfortable, it will probably hurt, but nothing really ever comes by playing it safe. Throw off the blankets and get dressed, the world is waiting along with everything that matters.
Wednesday, September 28, 2016
Wednesday, September 21, 2016
Sinner Saved
We can't let go, for even a moment. Temptation and weakness wait for us in the moments. We have strength yes, given by God to be used against the darkness but a weapon is only of use if it wielded. Think back to the times when you failed, was it part of an elaborate plan or did it steal upon you quietly?
Sin can't come barging in the door of your mind because we're prepared for that. We've barred the doors and shut the windows and are looking for a dragon to come flying down with teeth bared and flame roaring. We don't think about the basement. We forget that the dragon is often little more than a distraction while the nature still attached to us raises the knife.
The wound cuts deep and hurts more when we see the blade -covered in our blood- being held by our own hand. We rail against it, we mourn and weep and forget that we don't have to. We don't have to. We are free if we would only realize it. Sin shouts so loud and so much that it seems imposing but it's not, it's not. We can say no.
It seems so easy and trust me I know that it's harder in the moment but believe me when I say that you can just say no. When temptation comes in the dark times, the alone times, the weak times, you can refuse; but we must be prepared. We have to soak our lives in prayer, we have to know the Word, we must prepare.
This isn't a fight about bravado or glory, it's survival. We must be brave but in very real sense we must be cowards. We have to cower behind the shield of faith because to walk blithely into battle as if we have any strength of our own is a sure recipe for death. It's not about proving you can drink the poison and survive; better to not drink it at all.
I don't know about you but I've never understood sin. From our perspective now it makes absolutely no sense. Why do we, why do I keep doing these things? I know better, we all do, and yet we all find our way back to guilt back to shame and back to regret. Paul said it best:
Sin is a cancer and an assassin. In the life of a believer it is not often the firestorm that threatens the home, more often it's the cracking foundation or the dripping pipe or the leaking gas; a slower quieter death. I hate sin. More than I used to less than I should. When I look up and see that I've screwed up AGAIN I am both despondent and enraged. I cannot undo no matter how much I might wish it and there is more failure there than in any physical thing that can be retried or tackled again.
God is good. He is so good. I am a wretch, living in a body of death and clinging to His robe for mercy. And He loves me.
I'm not sure you heard that.
He doesn't just -understand- me, He doesn't only -pity- me, He more than just -comforts- me. He LOVES me! He loves us all, the whole smelly rotten putrid lot of us! He loves us and He paid the price so high knowing full well that we would falter and fail and rebel and turn our backs to Him again and again and again before the end. He knew every horrid thing you would do after He saved you before He saved you. He loves us.
He loves us.
He loves me.
amen.
Sin can't come barging in the door of your mind because we're prepared for that. We've barred the doors and shut the windows and are looking for a dragon to come flying down with teeth bared and flame roaring. We don't think about the basement. We forget that the dragon is often little more than a distraction while the nature still attached to us raises the knife.
The wound cuts deep and hurts more when we see the blade -covered in our blood- being held by our own hand. We rail against it, we mourn and weep and forget that we don't have to. We don't have to. We are free if we would only realize it. Sin shouts so loud and so much that it seems imposing but it's not, it's not. We can say no.
It seems so easy and trust me I know that it's harder in the moment but believe me when I say that you can just say no. When temptation comes in the dark times, the alone times, the weak times, you can refuse; but we must be prepared. We have to soak our lives in prayer, we have to know the Word, we must prepare.
This isn't a fight about bravado or glory, it's survival. We must be brave but in very real sense we must be cowards. We have to cower behind the shield of faith because to walk blithely into battle as if we have any strength of our own is a sure recipe for death. It's not about proving you can drink the poison and survive; better to not drink it at all.
I don't know about you but I've never understood sin. From our perspective now it makes absolutely no sense. Why do we, why do I keep doing these things? I know better, we all do, and yet we all find our way back to guilt back to shame and back to regret. Paul said it best:
"For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God; through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin."
(Romans 7:14-25)
Sin is a cancer and an assassin. In the life of a believer it is not often the firestorm that threatens the home, more often it's the cracking foundation or the dripping pipe or the leaking gas; a slower quieter death. I hate sin. More than I used to less than I should. When I look up and see that I've screwed up AGAIN I am both despondent and enraged. I cannot undo no matter how much I might wish it and there is more failure there than in any physical thing that can be retried or tackled again.
God is good. He is so good. I am a wretch, living in a body of death and clinging to His robe for mercy. And He loves me.
I'm not sure you heard that.
He doesn't just -understand- me, He doesn't only -pity- me, He more than just -comforts- me. He LOVES me! He loves us all, the whole smelly rotten putrid lot of us! He loves us and He paid the price so high knowing full well that we would falter and fail and rebel and turn our backs to Him again and again and again before the end. He knew every horrid thing you would do after He saved you before He saved you. He loves us.
He loves us.
He loves me.
amen.
Wednesday, September 14, 2016
Truth and Love
Love wins. It's an oft repeated phrase that signifies love and brotherhood overcoming hatred and bigotry. We see it all the time from bloggers and journalists to your average Facebook post and often it labels a truly good thing. Love however, is not the only ethic worth supporting or championing.
We in the church have been guilty of many things over the years usually as a result of our tendency to overreact to the events around us. We blame people instead of conditions, we hate where we should love, and lately we support what we ought to condemn.
"Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God."
(1 Corinthians 6:9-10 NKJV)
Sexuality, Gender, and their related issues have become hot topics these days. The cultural marketplace is thick with discussion as to their meaning and role and how we understand them in our daily lives. The Bible is very clear on these issues and yet those who call themselves Christians are waffling and even refusing to make definitive statements regarding these issues. The passage I just listed is only one but the point remains clear, and we can make it clearer.
"Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God."
(1 Corinthians 6:9-10 KJV)
The word translated "effeminate" is the Greek word "malakos" and does indeed mean effeminate and "of uncertain affinity" but beyond its literal meaning I've read that the term was used to denote the -well- receiving side of a homosexual relationship. Even more specific is the next phrase after that "abusers of themselves with mankind." That word is the Greek "arsenokoites" which means a sodomite, taken from the words "arrhen/arsen" male, and "koite" cohabitation, chambering, conceive.
"'You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination."
(Leviticus 18:22 NKJV)
From the Old Testament we have a very clear statement and before anyone starts bringing up that we are not under the old covenant, remember that these laws represent God because they reflect Him. He did not give the law out on a whim but as an extension of Himself. Not to mention we're talking about something of slightly more import than dietary or clothing restrictions here! This is only a brief run through of course, but the point of this post is not to argue this topic. The point is this, although we must show love to the unsaved and not judge them for their sin we have a duty and responsibility to call out those who claim the name of Christ but refuse to repent of clear Biblical sin.
When the sinner sins, we should not be surprised as that is their nature and apart from the work of God humanity has no reason nor ability to do otherwise. When we condemn them and lambaste them for their sin we are clearly in the wrong. Our calling is not to bludgeon people with their guilt or to bury them in shame and leave them rot, or job is to lovingly show them that their actions and nature are killing them; that they are indeed already dead and in desperate need of a savior to bring them to real life! We are to be wise yet gentle as the verse says. We must not inhibit the work of the Gospel by spreading it through hatred and anger. Remember the words that come after the earlier quote from Corinthians "and such were some of you."
We are all born sinners so we have no right to look down on those who have not yet been redeemed. When we look inward however, the game changes. We are still called to love but hatred is to be found, hatred of sin. It is partly because of God's love for us that He hates sin, it's destroying His people! Similarly we cannot claim to love God and His truth and not point out sin in our midst.
So many people are coming out these days as "Christian" homosexuals. These men and women are claiming the salvation of God but living and espousing lives of sin and rebellion. In my eyes that makes them false teachers and the Bible is very clear on them.
"O Timothy! Guard what was committed to your trust, avoiding the profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge; by professing it some have strayed concerning the faith. Grace be with you. Amen."
(1 Timothy 6:20-21 NKJV)
"Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ."
(Colossians 2:8 NKJV)
"Shall I not punish them for these things?' says the LORD. 'Shall I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?' "An astonishing and horrible thing Has been committed in the land: The prophets prophesy falsely, And the priests rule by their own power; And My people love to have it so. But what will you do in the end?"
(Jeremiah 5:29-31)
And finally,
"I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; not even to eat with such a person. For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside? But those who are outside God judges. Therefore "put away from yourselves the evil person."
(1 Corinthians 5:9-13)
We do not judge the world, that is God's job, but we are called to discern the behavior of those who claim to be Christians -those "named a brother." When we see someone who drops the name of Christ and who claims to be redeemed but is living in sin we must not sit idly by and be quiet and we certainly can't lift that person up as an example! They are saying that God was wrong when He told us something, that what He called evil is really good. How then are they different from Satan when he asked "did God really say?" We must call out their sin for what it is, sin! If we fail to do this then we corrupt our own body and confuse the message sent to the world.
Love won when Jesus was brutally killed on the crude cross outside Jerusalem. Love won when the Son of God was whipped to shreds, when He was spat upon, when He was hung up like a criminal and slowly suffocated on public display. Love won when God the Father poured out His wrath upon His perfect sinless Son so that we could be free of the sin that is destroying reality! I for one cannot stand by and watch people trivialize His sacrifice for the sake of good feelings, getting along, and a false peace that only ushers millions to their eternal damnation!
Lately I've been feeling tired. I'm too tired to sit on the stands, too tired of world that hates the God who loves them, too tired of a church too self-serving and pathetic to stand up for truth, too tired of intellectual holier-than-thous who think they know better than centuries of Godly men and even God Himself. I'm too tired now to be quiet.
Love doesn't win when we refuse to point out sin. So they might hate you, so you may look foolish; so they call you a bigot, closed minded, homophobic, regressive. So what? Love doesn't win when are so selfish that we can't love someone by showing them how to have life everlasting. Love fails when we use it an excuse to be quiet. It fails when we use it to justify a life more comfortable than true. I want love to win, but only real love -the love of God- stands a chance.
"I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry."
(2 Timothy 4:1-5 NKJV)
We in the church have been guilty of many things over the years usually as a result of our tendency to overreact to the events around us. We blame people instead of conditions, we hate where we should love, and lately we support what we ought to condemn.
"Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God."
(1 Corinthians 6:9-10 NKJV)
Sexuality, Gender, and their related issues have become hot topics these days. The cultural marketplace is thick with discussion as to their meaning and role and how we understand them in our daily lives. The Bible is very clear on these issues and yet those who call themselves Christians are waffling and even refusing to make definitive statements regarding these issues. The passage I just listed is only one but the point remains clear, and we can make it clearer.
"Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God."
(1 Corinthians 6:9-10 KJV)
The word translated "effeminate" is the Greek word "malakos" and does indeed mean effeminate and "of uncertain affinity" but beyond its literal meaning I've read that the term was used to denote the -well- receiving side of a homosexual relationship. Even more specific is the next phrase after that "abusers of themselves with mankind." That word is the Greek "arsenokoites" which means a sodomite, taken from the words "arrhen/arsen" male, and "koite" cohabitation, chambering, conceive.
"'You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination."
(Leviticus 18:22 NKJV)
From the Old Testament we have a very clear statement and before anyone starts bringing up that we are not under the old covenant, remember that these laws represent God because they reflect Him. He did not give the law out on a whim but as an extension of Himself. Not to mention we're talking about something of slightly more import than dietary or clothing restrictions here! This is only a brief run through of course, but the point of this post is not to argue this topic. The point is this, although we must show love to the unsaved and not judge them for their sin we have a duty and responsibility to call out those who claim the name of Christ but refuse to repent of clear Biblical sin.
When the sinner sins, we should not be surprised as that is their nature and apart from the work of God humanity has no reason nor ability to do otherwise. When we condemn them and lambaste them for their sin we are clearly in the wrong. Our calling is not to bludgeon people with their guilt or to bury them in shame and leave them rot, or job is to lovingly show them that their actions and nature are killing them; that they are indeed already dead and in desperate need of a savior to bring them to real life! We are to be wise yet gentle as the verse says. We must not inhibit the work of the Gospel by spreading it through hatred and anger. Remember the words that come after the earlier quote from Corinthians "and such were some of you."
We are all born sinners so we have no right to look down on those who have not yet been redeemed. When we look inward however, the game changes. We are still called to love but hatred is to be found, hatred of sin. It is partly because of God's love for us that He hates sin, it's destroying His people! Similarly we cannot claim to love God and His truth and not point out sin in our midst.
So many people are coming out these days as "Christian" homosexuals. These men and women are claiming the salvation of God but living and espousing lives of sin and rebellion. In my eyes that makes them false teachers and the Bible is very clear on them.
"O Timothy! Guard what was committed to your trust, avoiding the profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge; by professing it some have strayed concerning the faith. Grace be with you. Amen."
(1 Timothy 6:20-21 NKJV)
"Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ."
(Colossians 2:8 NKJV)
"Shall I not punish them for these things?' says the LORD. 'Shall I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?' "An astonishing and horrible thing Has been committed in the land: The prophets prophesy falsely, And the priests rule by their own power; And My people love to have it so. But what will you do in the end?"
(Jeremiah 5:29-31)
And finally,
"I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; not even to eat with such a person. For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside? But those who are outside God judges. Therefore "put away from yourselves the evil person."
(1 Corinthians 5:9-13)
We do not judge the world, that is God's job, but we are called to discern the behavior of those who claim to be Christians -those "named a brother." When we see someone who drops the name of Christ and who claims to be redeemed but is living in sin we must not sit idly by and be quiet and we certainly can't lift that person up as an example! They are saying that God was wrong when He told us something, that what He called evil is really good. How then are they different from Satan when he asked "did God really say?" We must call out their sin for what it is, sin! If we fail to do this then we corrupt our own body and confuse the message sent to the world.
Love won when Jesus was brutally killed on the crude cross outside Jerusalem. Love won when the Son of God was whipped to shreds, when He was spat upon, when He was hung up like a criminal and slowly suffocated on public display. Love won when God the Father poured out His wrath upon His perfect sinless Son so that we could be free of the sin that is destroying reality! I for one cannot stand by and watch people trivialize His sacrifice for the sake of good feelings, getting along, and a false peace that only ushers millions to their eternal damnation!
Lately I've been feeling tired. I'm too tired to sit on the stands, too tired of world that hates the God who loves them, too tired of a church too self-serving and pathetic to stand up for truth, too tired of intellectual holier-than-thous who think they know better than centuries of Godly men and even God Himself. I'm too tired now to be quiet.
Love doesn't win when we refuse to point out sin. So they might hate you, so you may look foolish; so they call you a bigot, closed minded, homophobic, regressive. So what? Love doesn't win when are so selfish that we can't love someone by showing them how to have life everlasting. Love fails when we use it an excuse to be quiet. It fails when we use it to justify a life more comfortable than true. I want love to win, but only real love -the love of God- stands a chance.
"I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry."
(2 Timothy 4:1-5 NKJV)
Wednesday, September 7, 2016
In the Light of Failure
It is easy to get discouraged. We are all keenly aware (or should be) of how often and easily we fail, and it can be difficult to bounce back. When we sin, often for the 'nth' time, we tend toward despondency, towards listless regret; we lose our focus on God because we feel so far away from Him. It can be easy to wallow in our failure.
Failure is part of our experience. We are not glorified yet and we still carry around the corpse of the "old man", our sin nature still hangs around for the rest of our earthly years. Part of being a Christian is God chipping away at the power that nature has over us and making us more and more righteous but the process takes time and there's a lot of stuff to chip off.
In the midst of our failure though, there is hope. When we feel lost in our own darkness, when we feel that we cannot look into our Father's eyes because of the mud on our hands, we have to go back to the beginning. Jesus didn't come to die for good people, God didn't save perfect men, we are all sinners saved by grace and His love comes to us not in the light but in the darkness.
"Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
(Romans 5:1-8)
We cannot lessen God's love for us by our actions, He loved us when we were at our very worst. Now as sons and daughters who have failed Him in the moment we are in a far greater position then we were before. His love has been shed abroad in our hearts and His Spirit resides in us to bring remorse yes, chastisement yes, but hope and love and mercy as well.
It may be hard, to go to Him again and repent, but repent we must. We must use that shame to strengthen our resolve, to sure up the defenses for the future. Prayer and study and faith and determination will work together to forge a far better tomorrow, and every day God is chipping away at the stone; there will be a beautiful sculpture there one day.
There is a temptation to run from God when we have failed but if we turn from God to what do we turn? We already know that there is no salvation apart from Him so it is to Him we must turn for forgiveness and renewal.
"...being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ..."
(Philippians 1:6)
God will complete His work in us, we will find ourselves in glory one day. At the end of the age we will stand perfect, the finished work of God. In that day we will be free from the sin and temptation that has plagued our lives and we will rejoice and sing praise to God for His work. Until that day we must return to Him again and again for the renewing grace and inexhaustible mercy that only He has.
We must not give up, to mourn overly for sin is to give it greater power than it deserves. Christ's death defeated all our sin: past, present, and future. We must not let our failure loom over and above the consummate work of Christ. We fail and we will all fail again in the future, but He has never failed. God is always there, waiting to forgive, eager to reconcile, waiting for His sons and daughters to return home.
Failure is part of our experience. We are not glorified yet and we still carry around the corpse of the "old man", our sin nature still hangs around for the rest of our earthly years. Part of being a Christian is God chipping away at the power that nature has over us and making us more and more righteous but the process takes time and there's a lot of stuff to chip off.
In the midst of our failure though, there is hope. When we feel lost in our own darkness, when we feel that we cannot look into our Father's eyes because of the mud on our hands, we have to go back to the beginning. Jesus didn't come to die for good people, God didn't save perfect men, we are all sinners saved by grace and His love comes to us not in the light but in the darkness.
"Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
(Romans 5:1-8)
We cannot lessen God's love for us by our actions, He loved us when we were at our very worst. Now as sons and daughters who have failed Him in the moment we are in a far greater position then we were before. His love has been shed abroad in our hearts and His Spirit resides in us to bring remorse yes, chastisement yes, but hope and love and mercy as well.
It may be hard, to go to Him again and repent, but repent we must. We must use that shame to strengthen our resolve, to sure up the defenses for the future. Prayer and study and faith and determination will work together to forge a far better tomorrow, and every day God is chipping away at the stone; there will be a beautiful sculpture there one day.
There is a temptation to run from God when we have failed but if we turn from God to what do we turn? We already know that there is no salvation apart from Him so it is to Him we must turn for forgiveness and renewal.
"...being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ..."
(Philippians 1:6)
God will complete His work in us, we will find ourselves in glory one day. At the end of the age we will stand perfect, the finished work of God. In that day we will be free from the sin and temptation that has plagued our lives and we will rejoice and sing praise to God for His work. Until that day we must return to Him again and again for the renewing grace and inexhaustible mercy that only He has.
We must not give up, to mourn overly for sin is to give it greater power than it deserves. Christ's death defeated all our sin: past, present, and future. We must not let our failure loom over and above the consummate work of Christ. We fail and we will all fail again in the future, but He has never failed. God is always there, waiting to forgive, eager to reconcile, waiting for His sons and daughters to return home.
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