No, God is not disappointed with you.
Sorry if you were hoping I was going to tell you that He is.
If you have a moment, I’d like to explain why I’m confident He is not disappointed with you…
I had a mentor once, many years ago now, who really challenged a great many of my preconceived notions of who God is. I wish I had recordings of many of our conversations, because I am still in awe of his wisdom. This particular entry stems from some wisdom he laid on me once, that has become a bedrock for me on this journey.
Ever get frustrated with yourself because you know what you should be doing, and you just don’t seem to have the willpower to *actually* do it? I’m willing to bet that the majority of people feel this way from time to time, if not more often. That’s where I found myself late yesterday evening, whining and nursing the emotional wound of having spent a whole day not doing what I knew I needed to do. To be fair, I have some serious pressure to get some work done, which is what I was focused on. And my “need to do” was write, which doesn’t pay the bills – at least not yet! I was whining to a good buddy, a fellow journeyman on this road to purpose. We were commiserating on how painful it is to get to the end of the day, and know in your heart that you didn’t do the one thing you should have done.
Even worse than knowing you didn’t do what you were supposed to, is the nagging guilt of having disappointed God. After all, He put this calling my heart, right? So if I don’t do what I’m supposed to, I’m disobeying and disappointing the Almighty God?
Ever find yourself wondering how long an all-loving God can really tolerate your crap? [tweetthis]Ever find yourself wondering how long an all-loving God can really tolerate your crap?[/tweetthis] If I had a nickel for every time that thought crossed my brain, writing wouldn’t need to pay the bills!
Wondering what happened to my mentor’s wisdom in the midst of all this whining and bellyaching? Yeah, me too – its coming, I promise!
So that’s where I found myself, moping about what a failure at life I am, at least thankful to have a buddy to share my grief. He lovingly told me he was going to kick my ass for beating myself up so hard. And he’s right, I’m not a failure at life – but my standard for myself is perfection, so everything feels like a failure. But his verbal jolt to my pity party reminded me of my mentor’s wisdom. I was in a similar mopey, down on myself mood, and my mentor hit me with this:
God is not disappointed with you. God will never love you and more or less than He does right now. God wants better for you than you are choosing today, but He loves you just the same. God knows that the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. God knows that, because He built us that way, and He wrote it!
My mentor was absolutely correct, of course. The Bible is clear about the whole spirit willing, flesh weak thing. So the next time you find yourself down on yourself, remember this wisdom: God is not disappointed with you.
4 opinions on “Is God Disappointed With You?”
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Your article was the reminder I needed. I have a list a mile long and piles of all kinds a mile high that are most important to do today- and every night I go to bed feeling like I failed at existing.
If I could just be stronger emotionally I could focus and get things done-repeats until I go to sleep-
So thank you- I feel better- 🎄
There will *always* be more to do in a given day than the time to do it! You are never a failure at existing, and as long as there is breath in your lungs, God still has use for you!
I doubt this will scare you, but I know many believers who might question my salvation for thinking this.
I was reading Romans 5-8 one day, and when I finished 7 and turned into 8 this struck me: is God saying, “Did you hear Me? No more condemnation of you – never….ever. And I know you’re going to sin & fail Me. Hear Me. Trust Me. I said, “no condemnation.” Not any, ever. Let Me make that even easier to get My meaning: N-E-V-E-R as in never again will I condemn you.
Nope, not even a little bit, and not about that (fill in the blank ____________).
So God said He knows I’m going to sin but that’s all on Him. He’s got my back. Wow!
I’ve been chewing on the idea lately that God doesn’t overtly punish us for sins at all. Not that sins don’t carry consequences, they do, but instead that the consequence is inherent in the system. I’m not convinced God actually has to act to punish us for sins, this world does that, because He designed it that way. Much like allowing a child to fall and hurt themselves after you’ve warned them – you didn’t need to reinforce the lesson, the system of this world took care of that for you. I’m not certain on this perspective, but it makes a certain amount of sense.