You say: “It’s impossible”
God says: All things are possible (Luke 18:27)
You say: “I’m too tired”
God says: I will give you rest (Matthew 11:28-30)
You say: “Nobody really loves me”
God says: I love you (John 3:16 & John 3:34)
You say: “I can’t go on”
God says: My grace is sufficient (II Corinthians 12:9 & Psalm 91:15)
You say: “I can’t figure things out”
God says: I will direct your steps (Proverbs 3:5-6)
You say: “I can’t do it”
God says: You can do all things (Philippians 4:13)
You say: “I’m not able”
God says: I am able (II Corinthians 9:8)
You say: “It’s not worth it”
God says: It will be worth it (Roman 8:28)
You say: “I can’t forgive myself”
God says: I Forgive you (I John 1:9 & Romans 8:1)
You say: “I can’t manage”
God says: I will supply all your needs (Philippians 4:19)
You say: “I’m afraid”
God says: I have not given you a spirit of fear (II Timothy 1:7)
You say: “I’m always worried and frustrated”
God says: Cast all your cares on me (I Peter 5:7)
You say: “I don’t have enough faith”
God says: I’ve given everyone a measure of faith (Romans 12:3)
You say: “I’m not smart enough”
God says: I give you wisdom (I Corinthians 1:30)
You say: “I feel all alone”
God says: I will never leave you or forsake you (Hebrews 13:5)
I think I’ve always seen Christianity as a quest to become “perfect.” Perfect as in, avoiding the list of sins covered in the Bible and being as “good” as possible (so cliche and dumb right?). I believed that if I did not achieve this perfection, Jesus would not want to save me. The picture in my mind was this: Jesus comes back to save those worthy of entering the kingdom of heaven. Jesus draws in every worthy person into his arms and enters the kingdom. I am not worthy.
What I’ve been realizing, though, is that maybe, just maybe, God doesn’t need or want us to be perfect. God came to us as Jesus, the Son of Man. Jesus, the one whose life we strive to live by, was a man. A human being. Granted, he was the only blameless man who ever lived, but he was a man nonetheless.
So, with that in mind, what does it really look like to worship God? What does God really want of us?
I think (and I could be wrong) that God wants us to embrace our “humanness,” imperfections and all. I think that He wants us to embrace our faults and sins and grow through them. He invites us to make mistakes because the only way we learn is by trial and error. He calls us to examine and love the scars that we’ve deemed unacceptable.
Our goal, therefore, is not to become something that we are not—divine (perfect)—but to become what we truly are—human. It means giving up trying to be perfect and, instead, becoming real.
***
Why did it take me so long to actually grasp this concept?
hehe. totally made my day :D
Somebody once told me that if you don’t humble yourself, God will humble you.
God has definitely humbled me today in more than one way. I’m trying to be thankful..
God woos us with kindness, He changes our character with the passion of His love.
What do you do when you find yourself with a bajillion things to do, and a bajillion people to please? How do you prune your obligations when all of them are so important to you?
Lately I have been seeing that perhaps I have a bit too much on my plate. Maybe I was greedy and decided to pile on stuff after stuff without taking a step back and saying to myself, ‘enough.’
But then there are those items on my plate that I didn’t ask for. I love them, and I would never wish that they were gone, but they are items that I wasn’t expecting.
Taking into account all of these voluntary and involuntary obligations, duties, jobs, whatever you want to call them, there is only one thing that I can say: this is too much.
But I can’t get rid of anything, because some of the things are things that I literally cannot get rid of. I rack my brain trying to figure out a way to stretch my time but it’s hard, and I don’t think I’m doing it very well. Maybe I should be doing something right now instead of writing this blog entry, but don’t I also need time for myself? To indulge my thoughts and allow myself to “de-stress”?
I wish there were more hours in a day. God can do that right?
I wish I weren’t such a control freak…
In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.
Proverbs 16:9
[Feelings][Fact][Faith]»
If you put Faith in the Fact that God has a plan for you, and that He will take care of everything, the Feelings will follow.
…
I need to stop worrying. But it’s SO hard to stop.
