One Little Slip

Watching the Olympics this evening, it astonished me how much one little slip could cost you. In many of these competitions, the standard is absolute perfection, and falling even slightly short of that could ruin your chance of going home with a medal.

This reminds me of the gospel's high standards, and of the tragic cost of falling short of those standards. We, too, are aiming for perfection, and while we don't have to hit that goal just yet, our mortal standards are still dauntingly high.

Thankfully, one little slip doesn't have to cost us much. When we make a mistake, we can repent of it, no matter how big or small the mistake. So, while no unclean thing can dwell in the presence of God, our little mistakes don't have to stop us from reaching our goal. Sin can only hold us back from perfection if we don't repent of it. Without repentance, one little slip could cost us everything, but with repentance, no amount of failure can stop us.