Keep You From Stumbling

Keep You From Stumbling

All glory to God, who is able to keep you from stumbling, and who will bring you into his glorious presence innocent of sin and with great joy. –Jude 1:24

Watching a montage of highlights from the recent Olympic Games, I couldn’t help but identify with some of the competitors in their thrill of victory as well as the agony of their defeat. The feature showed a hurdler who was favored to win but stumbled on the last hurdle, ruining his chances for a medal. We know what it is like to stumble, don’t we? Maybe not in the Olympics, but in life. “Little” sins trip us up, and sometimes we fall flat on our faces with enormous failure. Does this mean we are disqualified from the race of faith? Is it over for you if you have failed or fallen?

Perhaps it would be if it were up to you to get yourself across the finish line. But it is not your personal prowess that will keep you from stumbling; it is God’s power. “The steps of the godly are directed by the LORD. He delights in every detail of their lives. Though they stumble, they will not fall, for the LORD holds them by the hand” (Psalm 37:23-24).

Not only is God able to keep you from stumbling and falling away, he is able to present you faultless before God, innocent of sin. We know we are not innocent, so we need a miracle of grace to become innocent, and that is part of the protection package God offers to us sinners. When Jesus thinks about the day when he will bring you into God’s glorious presence innocent of sin, he can hardly keep the smile off his face. It will not be a solemn occasion; it will be a celebration, filled with great joy.

Do you wonder if you’ve failed so significantly or fallen so far that you have been disqualified from the race of faith? Has the pain of your fall left you feeling vulnerable to doubts and discouragement, and do you wonder if your drifting away from God will take you away from him forever? If you are in Christ, you are as likely to stumble and fall away as Christ is. And we know that is impossible. God is able to keep you from stumbling. He will protect you and present you faultless, and when he does, it will be a day of great joy.

My Champion, if I’m on my own in this walk of faith, I will never make it. So protect me from anything that would cause me to stumble and fall. Hold me by the hand and bring me home.

DIGGING DEEPER