When Your Kids Make Wrong Choices, Help Them Run to Jesus

Forgiveness in Christ

As much as we may yearn to make the right decision and do the right thing all the time, this is impossible for us. We are far short of the glory of God. We lack his wisdom. We lack his omniscience. His ways are so much higher than our ways, and even more importantly, we are finite and fallen. We are born in sin, and this side of heaven, sin still scourges us—even while we are free in Christ.

As a result, we are always going to fail at some point, to make the wrong choice, to mess up—even as we try with all of our might to do the opposite. And yet, take heart. When you make decisions that don’t turn out the way you hope or expect, know that in Christ there is forgiveness. In 1 John we read that if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us of all unrighteousness.

In Christ, we have forgiveness. No matter what mistakes we make, no matter how many errors we commit, in him, because of the cross and our faith in Christ, he removes our sins from us as far as the east is from the west. And so if you find that you make the wrong decision, take heart and know that we all do. When that happens, run to Jesus.

Place your trust in him and know that when you do, you are embarking upon the greatest adventure of all—a personal relationship with the living God who made heaven and earth, and who gave his one and only Son for sinners. All those who have faith in him do not perish but have eternal life, no matter the mistakes they make.

Kathryn Butler is the author of The Hunt for the Kraken: A Decide-as-You-Go Adventure.

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