As a man called of God to speak the truth, it is always the cry of my heart to do this as well as I possibly can… I am not permitted to be sloppy in my thinking, lazy in my study, careless in my words… I understand that burden and I live with the goal in my eyes; however, I also live with the constant knowledge of my ongoing failure. It is a balancing act, a tension that exists in my mind and in my heart in which I see both the command laid upon me and the utter inability within me. This same tension exists in most of the Christian life, and for us to walk in the way of truth we must see the tensions and hold them carefully instead of demanding that only one or the other be true. In the realm of our obedience to God we must understand that God calls us to walk perfectly, and more than that, He knows that we will not. But the real power of the tension comes when we also understand that He will never reject us for our failure; the absolute truth that when we cry out to Him for mercy and forgiveness, He will ALWAYS grant it! The preacher in the passage above is Solomon, and although he had wisdom from God more than any other man, he lived his life in many ways ignoring and even contradicting that wisdom. But God still loved him, still cared for him, and still his divinely inspired words are found in the Scripture. We often see our failures and just want to lay down and quit, surrender to the darkness and give up. But God calls us instead to trust what He says, to know that mercy and forgiveness are there for the asking, because Jesus paid the full price and in His sacrifice our lives are purchased. But even more important is the need for us to learn to extend that same grace to one another. None of us can walk this life perfectly. What we are called to do according to the Word of God is to restore those who are wandering away from the truth, to show them by our love and kindness that God is always the God of second, third and four-qua-trillionth chances… that at no point will He ever reject one who comes and asks for mercy. And dear child, if God will always extend mercy to those who ask, should not we also? Should not we live out the truth that Christ's death was effective for the forgiveness of sin, and that His blood is sufficient to cover them all? Be the living evidence of amazing grace, and extend that grace which you have received, the real invitation of the Savior is to come unto Him and find rest for your souls… He will in no way cast you out!!