Perfection Is A Lie!

I don’t know how many times I’ve heard people say that because someone is a Christian then they shouldn’t feel certain things anymore.
Like if being a Christian exempts us from hurt, from the offense, from sadness.
Too many people seem to have this false idea of what a Christian is like.
We are to be Christ-like but we are not Christ.
At the end of the day, we are still just human people trying to figure out life.
So hurt, offense, sadness, anger, are all feelings we also experience.

We can become offended if someone disregards our hard efforts.
We can become angry if someone is driving recklessly around us.
We can become sad if someone rejects us.
We can become hurt if people call us ugly names.

Following Christ does not give us a “free pass” in life’s experiences; it gives us strength; it gives us wisdom.
It gives us the wisdom to put life in the perspective of eternity and react differently.
It gives us the courage and love to forgive quickly and let go.
It gives us the confidence of our lives purpose and meaning in the Creator of it all alone.

Being a Christ-follower is more than just some religion you put on for the world to believe you’ve reached some kind of perfection. Following Christ is about intimacy with the Creator of the Universe.
Following Christ is about knowing your weaknesses and allowing Him to show you His ability, His strength in them.
Following Christ is understanding that the world doesn’t change because you have decided to follow Christ but you do.
Following Christ takes courage to believe in something, someone you cannot see or hear until He knows you truly trust Him enough to show you Himself.

Following Christ means that though someone has wronged us, hurt us, left us, our life still has meaning. We still have a purpose.
I know that sounds cheesy but if we didn’t have anything left here to do we wouldn’t be here.
Everything God does is purposeful, intentional.
With Him, there is no chance.
If you don’t believe in God then your purpose for being here is His grace giving you a chance to know Him before your time is up.
If you do believe then you have more reaching out to do, more soul searching to accomplish within yourself and the world.

So no, I am not perfect. I get offended, though I’m lowering the rate at which that happens (with God’s help).
I get hurt and sad and anxious and angry and lonely at times but I don’t stay in those feelings.
I don’t let those feelings become me.
I don’t allow those feelings to conquer my mind or absorb into my heart.
I cry out to Jesus for strength, help, love, peace, affirmation, wisdom whatever I find myself needing at the moment and He shows up.

I will say this, making the decision to follow God is not the “easy way out” as some may think. It is much harder than doing the natural or ‘fleshly’ things that tend to just ooze out of us.
It takes self-control and A LOT of help from God Himself. So connecting with Him, knowing who He is and what He says about you and to you is vital in a successful walk with Jesus.

Being vulnerable and admitting our failures and mistakes is one way we can win this world to Jesus. Let them see that we are all trying to do what is right and we do get things wrong.
No one wants to see how “perfect” you are at all of this. Why?
Because I believe we all know deep inside that perfection isn’t attainable and you appearing to be perfect at something so complex and challenging shows up as disingenuine not holy.

It does get easier to become the person you were made to be, react the appropriate ways, say the right things. But with every new level is a new devil. So maintaining our peace, our spiritual mindfulness is something we must constantly work at.

So stop allowing the devil to condemn you into thinking you are incapable of change, or goodness, and let God strengthen your weak spots with His love and grace.

2 Corinthians 12: 9
“But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient enough for you, for my power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may reside in me.