“He was doing so well… until he fell back into addiction. I can’t believe he failed in the end.”

My friend was discouraged. We were at the funeral of a co-worker. Matthew had been a student in our Bible studies while he was incarcerated, growing in his faith and showing great leadership potential. He even requested a transfer to another prison to start a Bible study there, becoming an evangelist while he was still serving his sentence.

But now we were burying him. Tragedy had struck Matthew’s young family shortly after his release, and he couldn’t cope with the grief. His old drug habit came back, and before long, his health gave out.

When someone we’re ministering to falls, we try to hold on to hope by saying, “There’s still time… God isn’t finished with them yet.” But I realized that day at the funeral that that’s not always how God’s kingdom works.

Matthew’s life was not a failure, regardless of how it ended. The ending does not define the journey. God used him, and his life continues to bear fruit in the lives of every inmate who attends the Bible study he started. Matthew trusted in God’s grace for forgiveness and salvation, and that grace covers his worst moments even if they come after his best moments.

Hebrews 11 speaks about the faithful men and women who have gone before us in the journey of faith. In verse 13, we read a shocking statement: “All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance…” 

Like me, they did not receive the full fruit of their work. Like Matthew, they did not receive their full victory over sin. They received seeds, which God was faithful to grow to completion in His time.

God is eternal. He is outside our time, beyond our time, sovereign over time. The Alpha and Omega sees the end from the beginning. He sees our greatest failures and greatest victories at the same time, and His mercy covers it all. We can trust Him to work out all things for our good and the good of those we bring to Him.