By: Steve Wilmot
Edgerton, Ohio
Someone is too far gone when he’s in such a bad state or condition that nothing can be done to help or improve him.
Like a marriage that is torn apart and beyond repair. Nothing can be done to save it. It’s too far gone.
Or like a cancer patient who reaches the end of all treatment and there is nothing else the doctors can do. Just try to make him comfortable. Send her home to die.
Or like an individual unable to break free from an addiction that has held her for years. Everything that’s been tried hasn’t worked. To her and to others around her, it’s hopeless.
Interesting thing about being too far gone. It doesn’t factor God into the equation. There have been marriages that were “too far gone” that God reunited and made stronger; a model giving hope to others in similar situations.
There have been cancer patients whose medical team gave up on them. Then God miraculously healed him and extended his life for a decade or more.
Remember Paul? After making it his life’s mission to wipe the Church off the face of the earth by killing all Jesus-followers, believers thought he was “too far gone.” He would never see the error of his ways and change sides.
That was Ananias’ argument when God told him to go and restore Paul’s sight and welcome him into the family of believers. We know how that turned out. He was anything but “too far gone.”
Do you think you are too far gone? That you are in such a bad state or condition you can’t do anything to help or improve yourself?
I pray the examples cited above will at least prompt you to rethink your conclusion. I pray the truth of the power and mercy of God will produce hope in you as you face your “too far gone” situation.
Your biggest sins are not too big for God’s grace. You are never too far gone for God to love, forgive and grant a fresh start.
I am 73 years old, and I’ve been a follower of Jesus for over 60 years. One of the things I have become profoundly surprised by is that too many people live consumed by guilt.
Battered by things they’ve done in the past that convince them they are too far gone for a fresh start. Too far gone for forgiveness. Too far gone for God.
Friends, nothing could be further from the truth. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1.9).
As great as forgiveness is, it’s only half of what John promises God will do when you confess your sins. He also says God will purify you from all unrighteousness.
The word John used here is a medical term having to do with purging the body, especially the bowels, of impurities. Think laxative or enema.
God reaches deep into your very core and purges your soul of all impurity that lives there. So cool, but it gets even better.
“No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more” (Jeremiah 31:34).
The All-Just God who sees everything we do, hears everything we say and think, and knows everything we do in secret deliberately chooses to limit his memory. “I will remember their sins no more.”
God doesn’t throw them in your face. He won’t hold them against you any longer. The threat of punishment no longer hangs over your head. No chance you’ll ever be too far gone!
Several years ago, a pastor and his wife attended a conference in a neighboring state. After each service, the speaker would invite people to come to the front where he would pray for them. The pastor was excited and asked his wife to go with him. She refused but promised to go the next night.
The next night the invitation was again offered. The couple made their way to the front of the auditorium and stood before the speaker. He prayed for the pastor, then turned to his wife.
“There is some horrible sin in your past,” he told her. She began to tremble fearing her long-kept secret would be exposed to everyone in the auditorium. “It’s why I didn’t want to come up here in the first place,” she thought to herself.
The speaker continued, “I asked God what it was… and he told me, ‘I don’t remember.’” If you are a devoted Jesus-follower, God doesn’t remember your sins either.
He chose to forget them long ago and never use them against you. He sees you as someone who hasn’t sinned. How can you be “too far gone” when that’s the case?
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Steve Wilmot is a former Edgerton, Ohio area pastor who now seeks “to still bear fruit in old age” through writing. He is the author of seven books designed to assist believers to make steady progress on their spiritual journey.