A Party of Failed Men By Ben Chiadika
I am yet to see that man who has not dropped the ball somewhere. Even the holiest of men when you look at their lives closely you will find a weakness, a drawback, a place where they proved the sages right, that all men at best, are still men.
But what separates great men from the rest of us is not that they don’t fail, it’s not that they don’t have flaws, the truth is some of them display certain flaws that make you wonder why the divine bothers to use them. But He does, God looks at some of them and showers some accolade on them that makes us ask if God, contrary to scriptures (Acts 10:34) is showing favouritism.
What do you say of a man who denies his wife so that he could save his life? Yet the scriptures call him a friend of God. (James 2:23) How?
What of a king who took one of his servant’s wife and orchestrated the man’s death, and immediately the man is buried, he takes the woman into his palace as a wife, guess what God calls the man, “a man after God’s heart” (1 Samuel 13:14)?
The list is endless, go to the book of Hebrews, chapter 11 and look at the hall of fame and you will find men whose humanity is not far from you and me. Men with weaknesses and failures. Men and not Angels.
You see that is the beauty of this great God. He knows these men yet He chooses to use them. Today we celebrate the exploits of these men, yet if these men were living in our days, we would have thrown some of them in jail, or at best destroyed them on social media. These are the great men in God’s hall of fame, This “party of failed men’ made great by grace.
I am not trying to contradict God’s word, No! I want us to appreciate the mercy and love of God towards us all. If you are sincere with yourself, you are a member of that party too. This party of “failed men”
But they didn’t stop there. That’s the thing about the patriarchs, they didn’t stay in the place of failure, some of them shook it off so fast that we would have questioned their “true repentance”. Because in our self-righteousness, we forget that repentance is a heart change, not a physical display of weakness.
It’s so bad that when God has forgiven us, we find it hard to receive His love. We tell ourselves sometimes that God has not forgiven us, that we got it too easily, as if we did anything to deserve the shedding of His blood for our sins.
The scripture says that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us, God loved us. There is nothing you are going to do that will make God love you less. Yes, He loves you. I know you don’t think you deserve it, with all your failings and the failures that men have placed on you.
Well, you are not alone. Ask Abraham, David, Moses, Paul, Peter etc. The list is endless, we all stand by the love and mercy of God. All of us, members of this party, “Party of Failed Men”
Accept God’s love today. Accept His mercy stretched out towards you. Let the blood of His son speak for you, “come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrew 4:16 KJV)
Ben Chiadika is a Bible teacher and pastor. A sought-after Nigerian movie director, producer, script writer and actor. He is a Director on Mnet “Tinsel” and Team Lead at Pater’s Heritage Mission.
