God Can't Save You

“For us men, accepting failure in life is not easy. It is even harder to accept when you know its your fault .”

Vernon Stading

While the above statement is true and I used to say it to my clients all the time, I remember sitting alone in my home at 3 am on the floor of my kids bedroom nearly a year ago and consciously thinking that my life was over. That I would never again have what I had at this moment. I knew what was coming because it happened once before and I had the sick feeling that my life would never be better than the moment it was the night before everything was ripped away from me without warning. What I didn’t know was what the second half of that above statement was missing and God was going to show that to me.

The Rest of the Story

When I was a kid one of the best memories I have of my dad was him listening to the radio. Ballgames and radio shows always were on whether in the car, deer hunting, or just outside in the back yard and I would always hear the voice of Paul Harvey and “rest of the story”. God was about to reveal the rest of the story to me as well in 2022. For 46 years I tried everything earthly and humanly possible to fill the void that was in my life. I tried new people, new cars, new houses, new jobs and so many illegitimate relationships that I swore were “from God” or ok because of “how I felt”, but none of them made me whole and at peace. Even though I felt God was pushing my family here to FL years before we got here, I felt like moving to another location would fix my issues and that drove me to many regretful choices. In the show the “Sopranos”, Tony the lead thug has a line where he says, “there is no geographical solution to an emotional and spiritual problem.” How right he was. Only when there was not one more earthly resource available to me, did God finally reach me loud and clear. God says that no one can hide their sin from Him (Hebrews 4:13, Isiah 43:1, Jeremiah 16:17) and yet we try to hide it and conceal it. The word of God is sharp as a double-edged sword (Hebrews 4:12). He has to painfully cut you one way so he can rebuild you back wholly and blameless another way. Think about a home remodel or flip. That home must be gutted, purged of all that is bad and shameful to the eyes and turned into something fresh, clean, pure, and pleasing to the eye of the new buyer. I was a sinner. I was detestable in God’s eyes, and I needed to be gutted like that old home. Now I get to be valued much higher in God’s eyes just like that remodeled home is worth way more now on the market (Isaiah 1:18). Jesus died on the cross for me and my sins and he now is the new owner of my soul (John 3:16, Romans 5:8). A second chance was given to me and I will always be grateful. What I didn’t know was that my kids would respect me more, I would gain more business, God’s plan for my business that was lacking would begin to fall in place, my life would improve with people who love God around me, and I would no longer continue to return to my vomit (Proverbs 26:11). The “rest of the story” is just beginning and I cant wait to see what God does next!

Summary

I have lived serving myself and my needs regardless of the consequences, and I have lived for God putting Him first. Which one do you think delivers more peace and prosperity? In the beginning I was afraid to tell people about what I was struggling with. I was afraid of how they would view me or how they would judge me. But what I realized through this process and through getting plugged in at my church with real true Christ followers was that there are people in the church that are struggling with the exact same thing or even worse. In fact, the number of people struggling with the same issues is staggering. That is because the devil follows the same process and same lies as he attacks his victims and the mess that is left is often the same in so many families. It can be avoided and fixed with God but Satan wants to prove to you its greener in the other pastures of life and that you need something new instead of rehabbing what you have and making it worth more. Instead of reaching out to those who feel the same as us (misery loves company) and have suffered the same unsuccessful fait or that are struggling with the same issues, God wants us to find Him in the way of other people who have overcome the sin, mended the pain and their families and can show us that all things are possible with God (Matthew 19:26). The truth is we no longer identify with who we used to be, but instead who we are in Christ. (2 Corinthians 5:16) In fact, looking back and being reminded of your past now seems like an out of body experience because I can no longer relate to that man on nearly any level. I have been rebuilt and rehabbed in the name of Jesus. Jesus said on the mount, “Wherever your treasure is, that is where your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21). I used to believe that God couldn’t save me and that if I just had one more friend, or one more client, or if I could just get this person to act this way, I would be fine. The good news is that I was deadly wrong and that all I needed to understand is that the only thing I needed was Jesus. His love, grace and forgiveness. God showed me the truth. The Truth is that the most important thing that will ever happen for me is to have my kids acknowledge that their dad loves Jesus above all things and that he isn’t the man he used to be and when my time comes to an end, that God tells me “Well done my good and faithful servant”. The chains that bound me for decades no longer have any hold on me and the prosperity that God has poured out on my kids and I prove that the statement above is false. As with Job, I believe the second half of my life will be far more blessed than the first half (Job 42:12). I have accepted the truth that whatever God has in store sure us in the future, that it will be far better than what I lost in the mess that I was part of. My treasure is with God and his eternal mission of a Kingdom Purpose for my Family. Trust me when I tell you from experience that no new house, different town, new boat, different friends or new lovers will ever fill the void that God is intended to fill in your life.