At the same time, if a sense of shortcoming is all that we come away with, then the image we’ll form of God is of a God who is perpetually irritated with us. We’ll consider Him to be a scowling God, a God who is constantly tossing His arms up in the air as if to say “WHAT IS IT WITH THESE PEOPLE?” But that’s not who God is.
As a Pastor, a trap that one can fall into while preaching is to convey God’s law and His expectations of people in such a way that its sole accomplishment is to breed guilt among those believers (the pastor included) who are failing to live up to them.

In other words, it’s easy to come away from a sermon, or from one’s own devotional study with a sense of depression over the ways that we seem to be failing God, or are disappointing Him. This is because when we turn to Scripture, we are often startled by just how insufficiently our lives seem to “match up” with the various mandates that we find there.

With that said, it is a good thing when the Word brings these discrepancies to our attention; it is a good thing when God convicts us of our sins, and reminds us of our need for change. We wouldn’t want otherwise.

But, at the same time, if a sense of shortcoming is all that we come away with, then the image we’ll form of God is of a God who is perpetually irritated with us. We’ll consider Him to be a scowling God, a God who is constantly tossing His arms up in the air as if to say “WHAT IS IT WITH THESE PEOPLE?”

But that’s not who God is.

Consider the story of Zacchaeus. Or consider the weeping woman who fell at Christ’s feet, washing them with her tears. These were sinners; sinners of such renown that their entire communities despised them. And yet, did God wait until they had their lives “cleaned up” before placing His tender hand upon them? No.

When the weeping woman of Luke 7 looked up to Christ, the eyes that met hers were filled with compassion, not anger. The woman avoided such eye-contact with her peers, for her peers judged her as unworthy. In fact, one of them said as much as she washed Christ’s feet:

“if this Man were a prophet, He would know who and what type of woman is touching Him.”

Well, Christ did know what type of woman she was. And it was exactly to her kind that He had been sent, for Jesus came to seek and to save the lost (Luke 19:10).

Pastorally, it is easy to preach the opposite. It is easy to spend time in the Word, to dwell on its perfection, and then to take to the pulpit in dismay over the failings of those one is preaching to.  Usually, this results in “you need to do such and such” sermons. Over time, this simply browbeats people, and they thirst for grace.

With that said, the Good News is that God finds worth in us even at times when it seems like He shouldn’t, or when nobody else does. And when we sin, we receive not only forgiveness, but His help in changing our ways (sanctification). Because of this, the believer can be confident in his relationship with God, knowing that God’s grace overcomes all of our sins and failures.

It is good to preach (and to receive) such encouraging news!

Toby B. Holt is a Teaching Elder in the Presbyterian Church in America.