Perfect - what to do when we fall short

-
We don't want to let people down, especially those we love. It makes us feel bad and unworthy of their time, love and effort. So, we know that God is perfect and wants us to also be perfect (Matthew 5:48), but we can't be perfect. For me, it's really discouraging to know that I am always failing, always letting Him down. I read The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer and in the back of the book was a condensed little biography about him. Reading about him, how he was devoted to God and only God; how everything else took a backseat, I told myself that that was what I wanted to be like. I wanted my life to be all about Jesus and absolutely nothing else (which is incredibly unrealistic considering that I live on social media).

So, as I'm sure you've predicted, I did fall short of that standard. I hated myself everytime I sinned and fell short and thought to myself "if I can't be perfect, then this isn't worth it!" Which is incredibly embaressing but here we are. But I've struggled with this question for a while and I figure that writing it out will help me and hopefully others, too.

First of all, God did not sit us down and say "I love you and I want you to one day be perfect and blameless, but it's entirely up to you to figure out how to do that, good luck." He said "I love you and I want you to one day by perfect and blameless. But I know who you are; I know that you are weak and flawed. You will not be perfect by yourself, so I'm giving you my Holy Spirit to help and guide you. And even still, you cannot be perfect in this life, so I'm preparing heaven for you, so one day you can be."

He knows and understands us
Yet you, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.
Isaiah 64:8

So, the Lord made us and formed us in our mother's womb. He knows us (likely better than we know ourselves) and He knows that we are humans. He knows that we have faults and weaknesses and He knows that we will fall short of his standards. When we mess up, we tend to get upset and angry and beat ourselves up. It's an exhausting cycle. We sometimes think that God is also upset and angry at us, but that's just not true. When we stumble and we're lying on the pavement, angry and full of self-loating, God is right beside us, offering to help us up and keep going.

Now, He does want us to be perfect, but He's not a God of unrealistic expectations. He knows that we will never be perfect on this earth. We need to recognize the same. We're an imperfect human trying to become something that we're not. God knows that we cannot be perfect in this life and He loves us regardless; we need to do the same.

Like a child learning to walk, they're going to fall down a lot at first. The parent wants them to learn how to walk without falling, but they don't expect this infant who can't hold up his own head to reach that goal. One day, the child will learn how to walk and then run, but until then, the parents recognize his weakness and are patient. God is the same. One day, we will be perfect, but until then, He is patient and always beside us to help us stand back up.

We don't do this alone
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever - the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.
John 14:16,17

We can try all we want to take matters into our own hands, but all that does is highlight our faults and weaknesses even brighter. We cannot overcome our shortcomings by ourselves, in fact, we can do nothing by ourselves. So, when Jesus died, he gave us his Holy Spirit to help us. 

Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
Philippians 1:6

God will continue to work in us to create us into the perfect people He wants us to be. But this work will not be completed in this life. Though, it is comforting to know that He is not just beside us, but within us, working to change us. And He promises to finish this work. One day, we will not have to worry about sin and falling short. We will be perfect and blameless.

In this life
So, while we're waiting for heaven, what has been done about our sin? A quick look at Romans chapter 6 gives us a lot of things to think about.

God has given us new life!
Sin's power over us in broken (Romans 6:2,3), our sin-loving nature is buried (6:4), and we are no longer under sin's control (6:6)!
  • We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Romans 6:2,3.
  • We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised form the dead through the gory of the Father, we too many live a new life. Romans 6:4
  • For we know that our old slef was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin. Romans 6:6
God has given us new nature!
Now, we share in his new life (6:5) and can look upon our old selves as dead and we are instead alive to God (6:11)!

  • For if we have been unified with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. Romans 6:5
  • In the same way, count yourself dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Romas 6:11

God has given us new freedom!
We do not let sin control us (6:12), we can give ourselves completely to God (6:13), and we are free (6:14), free to choose our own master (6:16)!

  • Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Romans 6:12
  • Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. Romans 6:13
  • For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace. Romans 6:14
  • Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey - whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? Romans 6:16

So, it's time we get back up, go a little easier on ourselves and keep our eyes fixed on God and His promises. 💕

Popular posts from this blog

Waiting For God

-
Image
God promised Sarah that she would have a son, all she had to do was wait. Instead, she took matters into her own hands and had her husband, Abraham, sleep with her servant, Hagar. When Hagar conceived, she was at odds with Sarah and they felt like they were in competition with each other. Hagar had a son, Ishmael. Everyone thought that the boy was the result of God's promise, but then Sarah, at 90 years old, became pregnant. In the end, Hagar and Ishmael were sent away and Sarah's son, Isaac became Abraham's heir. (Genesis 16 - 21:21) If Sarah had been patient, she wouldn't have had to deal with Hagar's pride in her pregnancy and the slave and her son would not have been sent away. People got hurt because Sarah refused to wait. A better example of patience is the story of Jacob in Genesis 29:15-30. Jacob was working for his relative, Laban, and fell in love with his daughter, Rachel. Jacob worked for seven years to marry her, but all those years " seemed like o
Read more

"I'm Not Old Enough"

-
 "I can't start a blog! I'm not old enough, I'm not perfect enough, I'm not good enough to teach people."     That's how I felt when I first started to think about writing a blog. This is how I felt a week ago. I'm 16. I have social anxiety and can hardly talk to people. Who's going to listen to what I have to say?   Thankfully, there are tons of amazing young women on Instagram who are younger than me and have blogs or YouTube channels and they are so inspiring to me. There will always be people older than me to look up to, but that doesn't mean I have to wait until I'm as old or experienced as they are. I can write and I love to write. I want to encourage girls and maybe try to get some of you out of the dark place I had to go through a year ago, because that was not fun.   1 Timothy 4:12 says "Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in f
Read more

Being Brave

-
  Things are scary right now, with COVID-19, but things are always going to scare us. There's always going to be someone or something that makes our stomachs hurt and triggers your fight or flight. But you know what? Jesus is always going to be here too.   There will always be anxiety and stress and fear, but there will also always be Jesus. I'm afraid to write this because I'm doubting that I'm good enough to share about the Lord. And you've probably got some anxieties right now, too.   My favourite verse right now is Joshua 1:9. "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord our God will be with you wherever you go." Some mornings, when I woke up before going to school, I would barely open my eyes and already be thinking about all the terrible things I'm gonna have to face; gym, math, my peers. And one morning when I woke up, I sat on the edge of my bed thinking about all of it, and that v
Read more