“When the thief takes, when our hopes cave, You build us back, You build us back / When the earth shakes, when the world breaks, You build us back, You build us back.”
"Build Us Back" by Newsboys from the album Born Again

I remember a time in my life when I was seriously struggling with condemnation and guilt. It seemed like I kept saying sorry for the same things over and over again, thinking back on bad choices I had made and feeling like there was no way that God was ever going to help me. It was as if I had somehow crossed the line of His grace. I felt like I was too unworthy of His love and that I had cheated myself out the life He had for me. Thinking thoughts like, Why would God want to forgive me? I’m not good enough.

This was something I dealt with for quite some time, after I gave my life to the Lord, but there came a point in my walk with God when I started to meditate on Romans 8. It states in the first verse that, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” It goes on to say, at the end of the chapter, that nothing can separate us from the love of God.

As simple and beautiful of a message as this is, it took me months to realize that it was true for me too. There was no way I could ever out-sin God’s grace. When I finally got it, my life began to change drastically. All of my insecurities started to fall by the wayside, and the things that I had forsaken--dreams and desires I thought I wasn’t worthy of--all came rushing back. Out of a season of pure confusion, God began to promise me a future beyond my wildest imagination, and He restored in me the joy and the life I thought no longer existed. He continues to do that in my life today.

I know I am not the only one out there who has ever gone through a time of wondering if God still cared about them. I think this is something we have all asked ourselves at one point. The real question, though, is this. What do we believe as our answer--the truth, or the lies?

The lies will try to tell us that there is no way we will ever be happy. We’ve gone too far, God looks down on us with shame, we’ve stepped over the line one too many times, and the prospect of having a happy life is out the window for good. But, you see, there is a reason that these are called LIES. The truth is found in the Word of God! The truth is neither death nor life. It’s neither angels nor circumstances. It’s neither paths taken nor paths to come. It’s not even bad choices we have made in our past. There is not one thing in the whole entire universe that can ever take away God’s love for us. And while this doesn’t give us a license to sin as much as we want, abusing His grace, it does promise us that when we fall, He will be right there to pick us up and dust us off.

I think about the story of Joseph in Genesis. This guy’s life should have virtually been in a wreck. He was sold into slavery by his own brothers at the age of seventeen, falsely accused of assaulting Potopher’s wife and thrown into jail --call me crazy, but I’d call that a bad year! Still, you go on to see this man, how he rose up and became one of the most prominent leaders in all the land. Why did this happen? Of course it was because of God’s grace and favor in his life, but he also didn’t allow His circumstances to control his destiny. He never went around sulking thinking, ‘I guess God doesn’t love me anymore’, he knew that God was going to restore his life to the place where he needed to be, and not wherever he thought he ‘deserved’ to be.

Going back to Romans 8, verse 28 states that, “all things work together for good to those who love God and who are called according to His purpose.” Maybe you have blown it in the past and your currently find yourself in that place where you think you deserve whatever you get, but I am here to tell you --you’re wrong. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done, a little misstep or a huge leap into sin, God wants to take you back and make you whole again. As it says in the chorus of this song, He will ‘build us back’. He will make you into the person you were created to be. Destined for great things, with a joy that the devil himself can’t take away from you.

Maybe you have blown it in the past, and you currently find yourself in that place where you think you deserve whatever you get. I am here to tell you that you’re wrong. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done--a little misstep or a huge leap into sin. God wants to take you back and make you whole again. As it says in the chorus of "Build Us Back" by Newsboys, He will “build us back.” He will make you into the person you were created to be. You are destined for great things and you were born with a joy that the devil himself can’t take away.

I want to encourage everyone today with this: Don’t waste another day of your life thinking that you need to live below average because of bad choices. Allow the grace and mercies of God (which are new every morning), to flow over you and begin to remind you who you are in Christ Jesus. You are of unmatchable value in the eyes of the Lord. It’s when you fully surrender unto Him that He will redeem and restore in you so much more than you ever knew you lost.