King David made a terrible mess of his life. Committing adultery and then arranging murder was bad even by the standards of his world. By God’s standard, who abhors sin, it was terrible. But when we think of David today, we don’t think of his failures. We take strength from his many psalms and the successes of his later life. His story is not one of failure, it is one of triumph through God’s power.
David wasn’t alone in getting life wrong. Abraham lied about his wife, Moses struck the rock in anger. Gideon doubted God and used a fleece, Elijah became afraid and hid in the desert. And Paul persecuted Christians with as much power and authourity as he could.
What all these people had in common was that they didn’t let their mistakes define their lives. With God’s help and forgiveness they moved on. Our remembrance of these people is success in their Christian life not failure. They are not known as Abraham, the liar, David, the murderer, , or Gideon, the doubter. They sought God’s forgiveness and moved on.
What about us? We all have mistakes from our past. (I certainly have!) But God has forgiven us, we no longer need to carry the burden of our sin and failure. We are thoroughly forgiven.